Bleach: Powerstruggle
by TheGrimAnarchist
Summary: Ichigo has been trapped in Hueco Mundo and Aizen has advanced his army to living world. Orihime is still trapped within Aizen's palace. Before Aizen's full-assault occurs-will Ichigo manage to save both Orihime and the World he knows? CH2 UP
1. Chapter 1

WARNING: there are a great deal of spoilers packed into this story, so if you haven't read all the Bleach manga up to the most recent, being 3/10/08, then this story will give away a great deal. So you should definitely go read those so you can read this, and because Bleach kicks ass and reading is good for you, if more people did it America may not be as packed with illiterate bums as it is.  
Disclaimer: I don't own bleach or any of this shit, anything past the point of the most recent manga is all SPECULATION, which means its bound to be proven wrong as the newer manga volumes come out, rendering this speculation false.  
The fact that I pulled this shit together speaks volumes about how utterly bored I am.

Ichigo was sitting on one of the many rocks created by Kenpachi's fight. He cradled Nell in his arms as he sat thinking desperately. Kenpachi was trying to heal the wounds himself with the little Kido he had picked up along the way. Ichigo had just decided that it would be better to wait for Kenpachi wounds to heal when he stood up and Yachiru jumped gleefully to his shoulder, ecstatic that her friend and captain had been restored to, what they both considered, 'good health'.  
"I do not want to leave MY world in the incapable hands of Soul Society captains who have already fired massive cannon, possibly bringing the destruction of my town and possibly a great deal more, into my world to protect their own." Kenpachi grinned; "Well you can discuss it with them" Kenpachi pointed towards a cloud of dust in the distance, wherein Ichigo could clearly make out the reiatsu of Renji, Rukia and to his great displeasure, Byakuya. As the cloud dispersed and released the various members including, Ishida, Chad, Rukia, Renji, Byakuya, Mayuri, Unohana and to everyone's distinct surprise Pesche and Dondochakka. Ichigo sighed as he looked around at the unlikely group.

"Well what now?" Byakuya asked, as Ichigo remembered Aizen's words as they rang through his mind again. 

"Well that's obvious…" Ishida started  
"We're going to go to that tower…" Ichigo continued

"And get Orihime back." Renji and Rukia burst in simultaneously, as Chad nodded his approval.  
"I don't believe we were given orders to rescue any, Inoue Orihime's." Byakuya said solemnly. "Then don't!" Ichigo snarled barely glancing at Byakuya, "Nobody asked for your goddamned help anyway!"  
"Well they're not leaving her unguarded, so I'm going." Kenpachi said. The usual bloodlust shining through his darkened eyes as Yachiru bounced around in impatience on his shoulder. "As will I" Unohana said, carefully avoiding the penetrating stare she now was receiving from Byakuya and Mayuri. Ichigo finally turned to face the two, Nell still held firmly in his arms. "Nobody asked either of you to come, you don't want to? Wait here and rot or whatever the hell it is you do." 

The small Nell in Ichigo's arms stirred as Pesche and Dondochakka jumped forward to check her condition. "Ithigo?" Nell asked looking up at the bright haired man holding her. He smiled down at her, "Yeah, we're going to go get Orihime now, you should stay here." Ichigo said, placing her gently into Pesche's arms. Nell's eyes widened immediately, "No! Ithigo, I'm coming with you!" Nell squirmed and leaped out of Pesche's grasp as she leaped and held onto Ichigo's shoulder in a very 'Yachiru-like' fashion. Ichigo smiled back at her, "Ok, but no getting hurt this time, got it?" Ichigo said easily as he smiled at her.  
"As much as I'd hate to interrupt this moment of tranquility, shouldn't we be going?" An irritable Ishida asked, his voice almost a low growl. "Yeah, yeah, let's go!" Ichigo said as he began to walk off towards the massive castle-like form in the distance. Rukia and Renji shot forward, earning them both disapproving looks from Byakuya, who at this point, was thoroughly irritated at being ignored for so long.

Byakuya shot out in front of Ichigo, "Do you think you have a chance, they are probably guarded with the 'fallen Espada'" Ichigo looked at him for a full ten seconds before walking around him saying, "Get bent, no one asked for your two sense." Ichigo kept walking, with Chad and Ishida, clearly having the same thoughts drifting through their heads as they walked by. Kenpachi shrugged as he stepped around a thunderstruck Byakuya. As the rest of the group walked past, even Renji and Rukia didn't look all too upset with Ichigo's word choice. Rukia ran to catch up to Ichigo and fell into place next to him. Renji grinned apologetically at Byakuya, which anyone could have easily mistaken his apologetic grin as a mocking one, as he passed him by. At a quick nod to Byakuya, Unohana moved forward, and at a quick nod from Ichigo, the whole party shot off at a run. Byakuya left in the same spot he was a second ago, rendered speechless for what may be the first time in his long life, Mayuri chuckling behind him as he sat down with Nemu in his arms. 

Meanwhile….

"I've been doing this for HOURS! Can we take a break?" Exclaimed an out of breath and exhausted girl. "Well you can, but you'll be of no use to Ichigo like this, and with Aizen's assault on hold now that he's finally figured out just how prepared we were, we don't know when he will attack, do you want to be as useless as you were last time?" Urahara's words seem to strike home with the black haired girl as she straightened up and looked at Urahara again. "Fine, lets continue!" 

"Who the hell is that girl?" Toushiro asked Matsumoto, who was obviously bored, which Toushiro had the foresight to see was a horrible thing. "Umm, Orihime-chan's friend I think…Tatsuki? I don't remember I think that's her name." Matsumoto replied loftily. The entire Vizard division that had trained Ichigo was sitting in their own group away from the Shinigami. Although the Vizard were far from happy with the arrangement, they had no where else to go as the Aizen was targeting them as well, and although they felt sure they could take out Aizen, his army, and everyone else single handedly, they eventually bended to Urahara's never-ending and ridiculous amount of requests. Toushiro glanced over at the group of Vizards, "So Ichigo's like them right?" asked an obviously confused Matsumoto. "What does that mean? 'Like them'?" Asked an annoyed Hiyori, who, unlike the rest of the Vizards, couldn't sit still long enough and had taken to walking around. "Uh, well I only meant, I mean that…" Matsumoto's voice faded as she looked apologetically up at the glowering Vizard. "She only meant that, as opposed to us, you would be another 'group' right? So she only meant that Ichigo is one of you…as opposed to one of us." Toushiro rescued as Matsumoto began to become a little uneasy at the small girls temper. "Well no, Ichigo is in a class all his own, thanks to that" she pointed at Urahara, "idiot." Hiyori finished as Shinji jumped over to her and grabbed her arm. "Are you sure this is the kind of crap you should be blabbing to the whole damn world?" Shinji asked as he started to drag her away. Although she let herself be drawn away, it didn't stop her from waking Shinji over the head with her sandal afterwards. 

Tatsuki had fallen again; she was on her knees as she looked up at Urahara. "Damn it… Why does this keep happening?" She asked no one in particular. Tatsuki had become aware of her ability to manipulate spirit energy. She realized that she had a power that had already shown itself in the form of a high level Kido-like formation. She could use her arms to block a sword's strike when using this power, it would engulf her arms and legs and make them the strength of steel, also she would be able to injure a person even if she missed, the pressure her spirit created would still wound them in some way, she had already practiced this much on hollow's outside of Urahara's shop. Tatsuki was becoming angrier as she fought off an unyielding Urahara, who had not stopped attacking her for the last three days straight. "Even Ichigo lasted a week without this much of a break!" Urahara mocked offhandedly as he swung his sword around him. "Damn it!" Tatsuki roared as she charged recklessly at Urahara, 'She's just like him' he thought as he parried her attack and continued the onslaught. 

"Ok Hachi! Put it up!" Rose said as Hachi began to form an enormous barrier around the Vizard, similar to the one used to enclose Ichigo during his training. After the entire group had gotten inside the barrier and they had completely sealed it they all pulled on their masks. The barrier, however, wasn't enough to keep all their energy sealed within and immediately all the inhabitants, with the exception of Tatsuki and Urahara, turned to see a group of eight Vizard, all with their masks on building their spiritual energy and sitting side by side, their usually amber eyes closed. Time passed and slowly their masks broke and they sat dazed, though they looked thoroughly satisfied with themselves. The Shinigami were still in a total state of shock as they stared in awe at the eight Vizard members. 

-In Hueco Mundo. 

Ichigo and the rest of his party had arrived at the foundation of the castle. Ichigo looked up to the castle gates that were placed before him. Pulling out his sword he positioned it before him and raised it into the air. Bringing it down with a single swing the gates blew backward, crashing loudly to the ground. Replacing the blade to his back Nell sat idly on Ichigo's shoulder as Rukia walked forward a little to keep up with Ichigo as he confidently strode forward only to be met by an enormous wall that made up the dome of the castle. On a table at the far end of the room lay a piece of paper, Ichigo spit in disgust as he pulled it up and read aloud:

_"One of these many doors will lead you to that whom you seek, choose wisely or you will be met with terrors unse-"_

Ichigo cut out midsentence, crumpled the paper and threw it to the floor, crushing it further with his foot. "Fuck you too, Aizen." Ichigo said dismissively. "Well you get the idea, pick a door and let's get going!" Ichigo said darkly as he strode easily toward a door. Rukia grabbed his arm and spun him around. "What?" Ichigo asked as she dragged him out of earshot from the others.

"You've been acting different, what the hell's wrong with you? If it's about your family I'm sure they-" Ichigo shook his head, "No, it's not my family."  
"Well then what is it?" Rukia demanded.  
"It's nothing."  
"It's something!"  
"No, it's nothing." 

"Don't give me that shit!"  
"I'm not giving you any shit; I'm telling you I'm fine!" 

"You can't trust me anymore?" Rukia finally burst out, sounding a little more than hurt.  
"It's not that…" Ichigo said somberly. Rukia looked carefully up at him as she stepped closer. "Well then what is it?" Rukia was so quiet Ichigo had to practically strain just to hear her. "Tatsuki." Ichigo said simply.  
"What?" Rukia responded, perplexed.  
"I have to bring Orihime back or Tatsuki will…" Ichigo's voice trailed off, he didn't want to think about the end of his sentence. Rukia was still not grasping the concept, having no idea what Tatsuki had to do with this predicament. "Look, just let it go Rukia, I'll be fine." Ichigo side stepped around her and kept walking kicking open his chosen door. "FINALLY!" Kenpachi burst out as he and Yachiru ran for another door that was easily blown down. "If anyone gets to Orihime first, you don't wait around, get out but go the way you came, and keep your spirit pressure high!" Unohana called wearily at Kenpachi's fading back. Ichigo shrugged as he and Nell disappeared into the darkness of his chosen door as Rukia stared concernedly after him. Renji put a hand on Rukia's shoulder, "Don't worry too much about him, he'll be fine." Rukia pushed his hand off, "Like I care!" She said as she picked a different door, her face was red but she refused to let Renji know that. Pushing open the door she began walking down the darkened hall as Renji and the others did likewise. 

Ichigo was walking through the darkened hallway with Nell clinging to his shoulder when she suddenly piped up. "Hey…Whaths wrong Ithigo?" Nell asked, concerned. "Nothing Nell, lets hurry ok?" Ichigo said, and without waiting for an answer, shot off down the hallway. Nell was holding on to Ichigo's shoulder as he moved quickly toward a now fast approaching light. Ichigo had only one thought: Get to the light. He'd figure out what he was going to do from there later. Arriving in the light he skidded to a halt and looked upwards at the massive staircase that had a throne perched neatly on top of it. "What now?" Ichigo asked himself as he looked up at the large, albeit, barren room. Looking back at the massive staircase and the throne now perched neatly atop it; he began climbing the stairs as the throne spun around to reveal an odd looking man with tall spiky hair and a mask that covered the back of his head. Nell looked up at him and Ichigo could feel her trembling on his back. "Calm down, it's ok…" Ichigo soothed as he turned to her.

"It is most definitely not ok!" The Arrancar mocked from above them. "You are going to die!" 

Meanwhile…

Isshin, Karin and Yuzu all walked into Urahara's shop and Isshin made for the open trap door. "Come on Yuzu, Karin." Isshin called, their father was unusually serious which made both the girls much more worried than they otherwise would have been. Isshin slid down the ladder and the ever-fearless Karin shrugged and followed her father down as Yuzu, fearing being left behind, followed suit. Landing on the ground in the massive underground of Urahara's shop the girls looked around in amazement as Urahara knocked Tatsuki off and walked towards Isshin. "Wait a minute Tatsuki." Urahara said seriously.  
"Urahara!"  
"Isshin!" the two men burst out in unison as they embraced briefly as a thoroughly confused Karin and Yuzu looked on. 

Out of the corner of her eye, Karin caught sight of a short man with bright white hair. Turning fully to see him more clearly her eyes widened as she made towards the back of a familiar face. Weaving in and out of several Shinigami who looked totally perplexed as she put her hand on the shoulder of the white haired man and pulled him around, Hitsugaya Toushiro found himself face-to-face with Ichigo's younger sister, Karin, whom he had been thinking about for quite some time. "Yo." Toushiro said, bored as she looked at him, clearly annoyed. "What? You don't remember me? JERK!" She cried as she stood a little taller, not that it made much of a difference; they were about the same height at this point anyway. "Ooh, girl troubles taichou?" Matsumoto mocked from behind him as Toushiro turned on her and roared, "NO!" Then, grabbing Karin's hand dragged her away from the rest of the Shinigami captains before he fell into a state of embarrassment he could never pull himself out of. Turning to face Karin he looked at her for a minute, "What are you doing here?" Toushiro asked, as Karin pointed to her dad who was deep in conversation with Urahara, "He dragged us here, I told him we should wait for Ichi-nii but he said that he would find us here…" Karin seemed unsatisfied with that answer. "Your brother is in Hueco Mundo, trying to save Inoue Orihime." Toushiro said solemnly. "However, the gateways have been sealed shut so the only way for them to get out now is by"  
"By Ichigo figuring out some stupid bullshit trick like usual." Tatsuki finished from behind the two. She grinned sheepishly at the two, "Urahara-san explained all this shit to me before we got started, apparently Ichigo can cut himself a new hole if he figures out how to do it, but he pulls shit outa his ass so often I'm sure he'll do something stupid and it'll happen by total accident." Tatsuki said offhandedly. Toushiro raised an eyebrow at her. "Right, well then there's the story." Toushiro finished, a little unsure of himself due to this newcomer who he had been watching train for several days now. "I still can't believe you didn't remember me." Karin said accusingly to Toushiro, who sighed. "I did not forget you! I just didn't expect you to show up here!" He defended.  
"Am I missing something here?" Tatsuki asked curiously, "Are, or were, you two together or? Fuck it, forget I mentioned anything, training must be getting to me." Tatsuki sighed as she walked back to her position in front of Urahara shaking her head and brushing the hair out of her eyes, leaving the two in a very awkward state, faces turned away from each other. 

"What's this?" Isshin cried from behind his daughter. 'I just can't catch a break at all today can I?' Karin thought as Isshin continued, "What are you two doing way over here away from everyone else?" 'Shut up dad…Shut up…' Karin thought. "Well?" Isshin seemed to have finished. "Well, we were just talking and did not want to be overheard." Toushiro said confidently, hoping to ward away any confusion, but it did the exact opposite. "What was so important not to be overheard?" Isshin persisted. "Nothing, we'll go back over there now." Toushiro said hurriedly grabbing Karin's upper arm, dragging her both away from her father and out of her now thoroughly embarrassed train of thought. The two sat side-by-side while watching Tatsuki train, both had the traces of a light red tinge plaguing across their faces. 

Hueco Mundo…

"Can you just get the fuck outa my way?" Ichigo asked the arrogant man standing at the top of the staircase. "I don't have time for shitty numeros like you today, so get the hell outa my way!" Nell nodded her agreement as she stood on Ichigo's shoulder. The Arrancar laughed, "Do you know who your talking to? I am" Ichigo cut him off;

"I don't need to know the name of someone who is about to die." Ichigo said as he let his sword hang loosely in his hand, still climbing the stairs. Now on the platform, Ichigo stood face to face with the Arrancar. Jumping forward he forced the Arrancar into a defensive position, not letting up on his onslaught Ichigo spun wildly an pressed his blade into the Arrancar's side, using his hand put pressure on the flat side of his blade and cut cleanly through the Arrancar's body, allowing half of him to fall over the edge of the platform. "Ithigo…" Nell said quietly as she watched him replace his blade. "Why did you do that?" Nell asked, she looked shocked, "I'm sorry Nell, I know you don't like violence much, but I don't have that kind of time any more, my world is in too much danger, and if Soul Society falls into harm I don't trust that old man not to tell all his captains to pull out and leave my world to get eaten alive. I'm sorry." Ichigo finished. Nell sat on Ichigo's shoulder and looked compassionately over at him, "Ith's ok Ithigo, we'll get Orihime back and go save your world too!" Nell said happily, in an obvious attempt to cheer up Ichigo, who shot a lopsided grin at her and turned back to the door behind the throne. "I don't think he was the last one…So maybe we picked the right door to get Orihime after all." Ichigo looked microscopically happier at this possible glimmer of hope he had stumbled upon as he walked onwards Nell humming absently on his shoulder. 

Walking down a long hallway the light at the end never seemed to get any closer, after running, attempting use Shunpo and just about every other form of speed he could think of, Ichigo felt like he hadn't gotten any closer to the end. "Nell, why the hell are we not getting any closer?" Ichigo asked, annoyed. Nell shrugged, "I don't know, maybe ith's a weird Kido! You're the Shinigami, shouldn't you know?" Ichigo's face fell as he came to the abrupt realization the only thing he knew about Kido was that he sucked at it. Sighing, his once placid face now was showing the surest sign of annoyance, his eye twitched. "WELL WHAT NOW?" Ichigo burst out angrily as Nell fell backwards off Ichigo's shoulder at the sudden outburst. Ichigo pulled out his sword, his recklessness taking over and held it in the air above him. "Getsuga Tenshou!" He roared and brought his blade down in a wide arch. The black light streaked down the hallway and never seemed to stop; the two looked on after it streaking down the hallway, never ending. "Fuck." Ichigo said simply as though declaring something unknown. "Let me try, Ithigo!" Nell cried suddenly, forming a rather large cero in the palm of her hand and sending it off towards the end of the hallway, but the force sent her backward and made the cero fly towards the wall, Ichigo ducking in time to dodge the flying ball of red power. The cero made contact with the wall and as Nell hit the wall behind her the Cero caused the walls to flicker and slowly vanish around them. Nell picked herself up from the floor, now in a whole new setting. They were in a large white room; the Arrancar Ichigo had just killed, standing before them. "Ah! It seems you have broken out of my space!" The Arrancar cried, unsurprised. "What? How?" Ichigo questioned, confused. "The minute you made me draw my sword you fell into my 'space'. That is the power of my, Arrancar numero ciento cinco, Zanpaktou. (ciento cinco, meaning 105 in English). Ichigo raised an eyebrow before drawing his Zanpaktou. "Well, that may be, but you see, once again, your in my way, and now I know your trick, so now what?" Ichigo asked, regaining his calm. The Arrancar's eye's widened, "We'll see about that…" He answered, his eyes narrowing. The Arrancar placed his sword before him and lowered his body in a stance much resembling Byakuya's. The two charged at each other, blades colliding in air as they passed by each other pushing off one another's blade. Their feet barely touching the ground the espada was in the air again, bringing his sword down heavy and hard to Ichigo, who stepped out of the way and swung in a wide arch as the Arrancar blocked the attack, locked in a power-struggle they were pushing one another back. Ichigo broke the hold first and dodged around the Arrancar, landing his foot in the Arrancar's gut. Quickly recovering they charged again, Ichigo was all offensive as the Arrancar blocked Ichigo's fluid strikes. Ichigo connected with himself pushing down on the opponent, Ichigo put his other hand on the flat end of the blade. "Getsuga…Tenshou…" He almost whispered as a great energy released itself from the confines of Ichigo's blade, the Arrancar was thrown back, his shoulders, sides and arms were cut and blood was dripping from his wounds. Ichigo fell like a falling rock onto the Arrancar bringing his blade down on his shoulder and cutting fluidly, deepening the wound that was already there into a deep gash, Ichigo jumped back several feet and reassumed his fighting position as the Arrancar struggled to get up from his kneeling position. "Give up." Ichigo suggested. "Never! Aizen-sama will be unforgiving!" The Arrancar shrieked in defiance. "So why the hell'dya work for him?" Ichigo questioned, sure that their must be a cast-iron reason these people serve Aizen so whole-heartedly. "Aizen has helped us achieve full power." The Arrancar answered simply. "This is the FULL POWER that he helped you achieve?" Ichigo asked, almost mockingly, "You got duped." The Arrancar looked up at Ichigo, fire blazing in his cool gray eyes, pulling himself to his feet, he said coldly, "You will pay for mocking my strength!" The Arrancar charged at Ichigo, his sword held above his head. Ichigo side-stepped the charging enemy and planted his shin in the Arrancar's gut, while simultaneously spinning sending the Arrancar towards the high marble wall. Ichigo walked towards the Arrancar who seemed unconscious, blood leaking from the wound on his shoulder. Ichigo looked at Nell, "Can you heal this?" He asked as she nodded, unhappily. "I don't want to heal him. He tried to hurt you Ithigo!" She reminded as she put her hands behind her back and looked up at the orange haired man. "It's ok, Nell, he won't be awake any time soon anyway." Ichigo soothed as Nell nodded, again, showing signs of reluctance. Her hands shone a brilliant white that almost appeared to be forming in some kind of golden light as the blood stopped pouring from his shoulder and the wounds were beginning to heal slowly. Suddenly, Nell stopped. "That will keep him alive long enough for him to regain consciousness." Nell said, surprisingly clearly and seriously. Ichigo smiled back at her as she leaped onto his shoulder, "thanks." He said, as they walked towards the sealed door that lead onward. 

The Arrancar behind them stood silently, his sword at his side. "Idiots!" he cried as he charged for them Ichigo didn't have time to respond he merely threw Nell off him and braced for impact, an impact, which never came. Ichigo merely heard the sound of steel on steel as the blade was thrown backward. Ichigo looked up, a teal haired man stood before him, his back to Ichigo, his sword held straight out. "This was your mistake with me too, Ichigo! Stop leavin' people alive goddamn it!" Grimmjow roared as he instantly took note of where Ichigo had previously done great deals of damage. Grimmjow moved quickly dropping his blade back into the wound Ichigo had previously closed and reopened, deepened and finished, the cut, cleanly removing the arm. Grimmjow then stepped out of the way of the falling Arrancar and let his blade stand straight up, impaling the Arrancar, picking him up with his sword Grimmjow pulled the blade out of his enemies gut and kicked the corpse across the floor, leaving a blood trail all the way to the wall that he had crushed into. 

"What the HELL are you doing here, Grimmjow?" Ichigo questioned quickly, his hand on the hilt of his blade, in case Grimmjow was looking for a rematch. "Relax, I'm not here to fight right now, even so, we need to keep going, Orihime hasn't run her course yet, the idea was for you to forget about her in the chaos of your world being trampled by Aizen." Grimmjow explained. "Yeah, but that hasn't happened because of the mistake that he made by thinking my world was unprotected. So why hasn't he come back yet?" Ichigo asked and Grimmjow sighed, "Do I look like someone who would know, let alone give two shits why the asshole isn't back? Plus I just saved your ass, he would have killed me by now anyway because I'm tired of being the sellout I was." Grimmjow looked towards the door. "Let's go, this place smells like shit." Grimmjow said, motioning to the door at the other end of the room. 

"Should we trust him?" Nell asked Ichigo as she returned to his shoulder. Grimmjow's eye twitched. "I guess for now, but we still don't know his motives so let's be careful." Ichigo whispered back. Grimmjow's grip tightened in his pockets. "I still don't trust him." Nell said simply. "FUCK YOU PEOPLE! Goddamn!" Grimmjow burst out, finally annoyed of the slandering presumptuous bullshit that was being whispered behind him. "I save YOUR ASS" He pointed to Ichigo, "Then I help you two get to Orihime and what do you do? Give me your BULLSHIT!" Grimmjow growled at them, his eyes narrowing in distaste. Ichigo and Nell fell silent as they followed the still fuming man walking ahead of them. "Guess he's right…" Ichigo said to Nell as she nodded, fear in her eyes. "Damn right I'm right!" Grimmjow shot back without even bothering to turn around. 

Meanwhile…

"Karin, why is your dad watching us?" Hitsugaya whispered as he leaned over to her. "I don't know…He's been watching us all day…" Karin didn't know any more than Hitsugaya, why should she? "How the hell should I know anyway Toushiro?" He shrugged and looked back towards the now sleeping Tatsuki, the ever-watchful Isshin and then off into space, not really paying attention. 

"Ok, so someone here is going to have to run by me what exactly Ichigo is one more time." Rose said impatiently as he scratched his head in confusion, "All I can make of this shit is that he didn't actually 'beat' his hollow, his hollow just quit. That's not part of how this goes!" Rose said indignantly. "Shut up stupid." Hiyori sighed from her lying position, her eyes closed, and her head resting in her hands. "So explain!" Rose burst out angrily at the half-asleep girl. "Will you shut up if I do?" Hiyori countered. "I guess." Rose sighed. "Fine, then let me start by reiterating, you're an idiot. When Ichigo fought his Hollow, the hollow within him simply got 'injured' or so we presume, he then proceeded to falling back and allowing Ichigo to keep his body, but the Hollow didn't become part of his Zanpaktou or inner-self. Ichigo just allowed him to keep living, of course this is all speculation and most of this is just a vague assumption of what Ichigo's 'inner world' is. Now then at this point the Hollow won't take over but will work very much like a Zanpaktou in the effect that Ichigo will work WITH the hollow's power rather than the hollow's power just working for him. Essentially he's become half hollow half Shinigami in a way none of us can ever achieve now that we've beaten our hollow into submission. Ichigo was too nice, throughout the whole fight he must have felt some kind of pity, who would have thought something so stupid could make him more powerful?" Hiyori finished to the group at large, and then turned back to rose. "Now shut the fuck up!" Hiyori fell back to the ground and closed her eyes again. 

Toushiro was still looking away when he felt pressure hit his shoulder and he looked down to see Karin's sleeping form leaning on his shoulder. Sighing he tried his absolute best to ignore the snickers from Matsumoto, Ikkaku, who had just recently shown up, and Hanatarou, who had come on orders by Unohana to be of medical assistance. Toushiro turned around slightly, making sure not to let Karin fall, he looked at them with eyes that cleared said; _"Shut up now, or I will kill you all…very slowly…"_ They all burst out laughing at the sudden noise made Karin slip from her spot on Toushiro's shoulder and landed her head on his lap. It took her several moments to realize what had happened, but as soon as she did she hurriedly sat up, blushing darkly, an uncharacteristically unusual trait for Karin. Standing quickly she turned her head, "I'm going to go see what Yuzu is doing!" She said, a little too quickly as she weaved back through the captains to reach where Yuzu was talking animatedly with Ririn, Kuroud and Noba, all of who had returned to their stuffed animal form. Karin came and sat down next to her, her face still beet red.

"Hey Karin, what's wrong?" Yuzu asked confused, looking at her sister's face. "Uh, wrong? What, no nothing, everything's fine, nothing's wrong!" She said, stumbling through her sentence. Yuzu looked unconvinced and turned to her, as the three she had been talking to stumbled forward as well, looking at her attentively. "Don't tell me that!" Yuzu cried, "What's wrong, did something happen? I thought you were talking to Hitsugaya-kun?" Yuzu questioned, leaning in slightly. "I was, but now I'm here, ok?" Karin evaded defensively. Yuzu looked over at Hitsugaya, then back to her red-faced sister. "Ok, I'll go ask him." She said standing up as Karin tore her back down to her sitting position. "Look, something embarrassing happened ok? Yuzu just stay here!" Karin pleaded as Yuzu smiled slightly, as she giggled and covered her mouth. "That's very unlike you Karin!" Yuzu laughed openly. Karin groaned and fell backwards closing her eyes. "Shut up." She sighed as the Yuzu continued to talk to the three, but on a whole new topic, that was sure to make Karin either puke or commit suicide, she couldn't figure out which it was yet. As she closed her eyes and tried to sleep, thinking about what had just happened and where her brother was…

Hueco Mundo…

"Grimmjow, do you know where we're going?" Nell whined as she hopped off of Ichigo's shoulder to kick Grimmjow in the back of the head. Grabbing the back of his head he rubbed and turned on them. "Yes! I do, but I just don't know if I want to take you there or not!" Grimmjow said, narrowing his eyes. "Then get the fuck outa my way moron, I'll figure it out myself somehow and I'm sure I'm bound to stumble on the place eventually!" Ichigo burst out brushing past Grimmjow, Nell hanging onto his shoulder. "Well that way is towards her…but you're going to have to deal with numero cien." Grimmjow said slowly. Ichigo turned to him, "you've been slowing me down for some piece of shit Arrancar? You're a fuckin' idiot, I came here fully intending to fight espada and you're beatin' around the bush for a goddamn Arrancar! Get bent!" Ichigo growled as he continued to walk down the hallway, Grimmjow catching up he looked at Ichigo. "I thought you were with that Rukia chick" Grimmjow grinned at the expression of shock that Ichigo made, and pressed on, "What's with the sudden resolve to save Orihime?" Grimmjow asked. Ichigo was stuck, either he answer and Grimmjow doesn't let it die, or he doesn't answer and Grimmjow bugs him about it until he dies…Ichigo thought about that, and realized it would probably continue after his death as well. "She's my friend, just because you're too much of a shallow asshole to save your friends doesn't mean we're all that way." Ichigo said, knowing that this would easily touch a nerve, Grimmjow having told his life story to Ichigo during their last fight, also choosing to ignore his original statement may go unnoticed if he irritated Grimmjow enough to make him drop it. "Mind your own damn business." Grimmjow muttered as Ichigo grinned at his victory. 

Stepping into the next room, as Ichigo had come to know them; the light illuminated something similar to that of a massive cathedral. Western religious artifacts stood behind the alter at the far end of the room as a man in dark black robes came out of the shadows, his hood drawn, only the lower half of the face was visible. Ichigo stared at him as he lowered his hood to reveal the entire top half of his head being that of a hollow. "You have entered the domain of God." The Arrancar said as he looked across the room at Grimmjow and his eyes narrowed. "You are the one who stole my position. I, Sacerdote, high priest and former Espada, for God, I will kill you." Ichigo looked at Grimmjow and narrowed his eyes, "So this is why you didn't want to come here, you pussy ass bitch!" Ichigo growled at him. "You will not curse in the house of God!" Sacerdote cried from across the room. "Get bent!" Ichigo roared at him, "I don't believe you wasted our time because you were too much of a punk to face this guy!" Nell cried in agreement with Ichigo. "THAT'S NOT IT!" Grimmjow yelled at them. Ichigo and Nell turned away with looks that said all too plainly, "Bullshit." 

Ichigo felt a sudden pull, much like that of Zangetsu, but far more feral. Ichigo closed his eyes as he fell into the state he had come to live in often during his rest. Standing before Темно-один, Ichigo's inner hollow, "What is it?" Ichigo asked, knowing it must be somewhat important seeing as that's the only thing that Темно-один bugs him for anymore. (Темно-один, meaning Dark One, in Russian). "That guy ain't any push over." Темно-один said as Zangetsu nodded his agreement from behind him; the two looked at Ichigo seriously. "You're going to have to actually try on this one; it seems the only way Grimmjow took down this guy is by some form of bullshittin' and we all know how good Grimmjow is at that." Темно-один continued as he looked back at Zangetsu. "This one's our fight." Zangetsu said to Ichigo and Темно-один, "We will win together." Ichigo nodded as he closed his eyes and returned to the 'world of the living' as he had come to call it, though realizing how ironic that sounded considering their current location. Ichigo looked up at Sacerdote, who was droning on about something that neither Nell, nor Grimmjow were paying attention. "Shut up." Ichigo said simply, barely bothering to yell. Ichigo whispered to Nell to go over by Grimmjow, who did so, ridiculously reluctantly. Ichigo stepped forward drawing his Zanpaktou, feeling the power of Zangetsu rush through him. _"Your lettin' me play!" _Ichigo heard a feral voice inside him grumble as he smirked inwardly. Sacerdote seemed taken aback by the sudden challenge but discarded his black robes and was dressed much like Grimmjow, with the exception of the blade he held at his side, much unlike a Japanese sword it was longer and had a handle-bar like guard, the blade was long and balanced, clearly two-sided, the end of it was in the form of a cross, it hung diligently at his side as the true form of his mask seemed to appear, looking to Ichigo much like a crusader's helm, even the eye-slits were narrow. Sacerdote drew his blade and held it out in front of him in a style Ichigo couldn't recognize. Sacerdote released his Zanpaktou, his body immediately confirming Ichigo's earlier suspicions, Sacerdote's body immediately became covered in a hollow shell resembling that of a Crusader in everything but color. Ichigo released his BanKai as smoothly as Sacerdote had released his Zanpaktou, letting his hand hang easily over his head, he brought it down swiftly, the mask that represented Ichigo's race covering his face, the amber eyes shone out of it. "Demon…" Sacerdote said slowly as he looked at Ichigo. "Feelin's mutual." Ichigo said back, his voice twisted with Темно-один making it sound extraordinarily demonic as he stood a little straighter, his sword held easily in his right hand as he readied himself for combat. 

"Renji?" Rukia asked shocked to find Renji, Unohana, Chad, Ishida and Kenpachi all end up in the same massive room. "How the fuck'd this happen?" Renji asked the group at large, they seemed to have all ended up in another room similar to the first one but this had fewer doors. "Where's Ichigo…If they all lead here then shouldn't he be here too?" Rukia questioned quickly. "It seems Ichigo picked the 'right' door." Ishida said simply, shrugging as he looked around, "I noticed his spiritual pressure rise earlier and it seems like there's a heavy and unrecognizable weight hanging around the area now." Unohana shook his head. "That's Ichigo and an apparently very high level opponent, I recognize his spiritual pressure, although I've only felt this kind once, his hollow has taken ov" Rukia and Renji both cut simultaneously across Unohana's explanation, "No, Ichigo defeated his hollow, he's simply using his mask now!" Renji burst out, Rukia echoing him. Unohana shrugged, "Very well, then it's safe to assume he is in fact in battle, we should follow his Reiatsu. "No." Said Ishida from behind the group, standing next to Chad he continued, "If we do that, first Ichigo will be pissed and his agonizing is something I could do without, and on top of that he'll be right which irks me even more, because our goal is to get Inoue, Ichigo will be pissed if we side track to go 'see what he's up to'" Ishida finished and looked at Chad who nodded as the two set off down another hallway towards, what they hoped, would be Inoue's location, leaving several stricken companions in their wake. Rukia and Renji shrugged and picked opposite tunnels as Unohana was left to continue her trek down one of the few remaining doorways. 

Ichigo and Sacerdote's blades were pushing each others back, locked in a heated powerhold. Ichigo pulled back first and spun around, brining his sword in a large arc that was easily blocked and pushed off by Sacerdote. Sacerdote charged and brought his massive sword down extremely quickly. Ichigo tilted his blade and let Sacerdote's blade slide off his sword to the ground as Ichigo brought around his blade again, having it blocked, but before Sacerdote could throw off his blade he slid it off and spun again, bringing it upwards in a huge arch from an almost kneeling position. Sacerdote jumped out of the way, the sword cutting cleanly through the front of Sacerdote's vest. Replacing the blade before him, Sacerdote and Ichigo were on opposite sides of the room. Holding his blade up Sacerdote's blade became covered in a pure white light. "Redencion," Sacerdote said quietly as he brought his sword down, cracking the ground beneath him an enormous burst of white light shot from the blade, much resembling Ichigo's own 'Getsuga Tenshou'. "Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo roared as he swung his sword wildly, the enormous wave shot out of it and collided with the white counterpart. The white slash passed through his Getsuga Tenshou reducing it to spirit particles. Ichigo was shocked for only a moment, raising the sword high above his head he brought it down swiftly, Getsuga once again racing from his blade, this time severing the white blast in half, the remains shattering against the wall behind him. Ichigo charged, following his Getsuga, which was now heading directly for Sacerdote. As Sacerdote put up his sword, he shattered the weakened Getsuga, Ichigo brought his sword down and was blocked, moving swiftly he attacked again, until he slid back and jumped into the air bringing his whole body down into an attack that Sacerdote blocked and was now holding. 

"_Let me help" _Темно-один said as Ichigo tried to push Sacerdote. _"Trust me, King, I can help you here." _Ichigo sighed inwardly, feeling as though he might regret thisas Темно-один took majority control. Putting his hand on the flat end of the blade he pushed harder and said quietly, "Getsuga Tenshou!" And as it erupted from the tip of Zangetsu, Ichigo leaped back and put his sword forward. "CERO!" He roared as a shot of red energy charged and fired into the blast. Sacerdote, lost somewhere within the smoking chaos below, was shocked. Landing safely next to the wall that Sacerdote had earlier shattered, Темно-один retreated back giving Ichigo majority control again. Standing with his sword held loosely at his side Ichigo waited as the smoke cleared. Sacerdote stood in the ruins, his top had come entirely torn off and his mouth had blood dripping from the corner, but otherwise, Sacerdote stood unscathed. 

"Ithi…go…" Nell said quietly. "This is why the idiot should have listened to me!" Grimmjow said annoyed, "The 'power of god' is his released form, its going to take a hell of a lot more than a goddamn Cero or two and some half-assed Getsuga Tenshou's to remove him from existence. "Help Ithigo damn it!" Nell cried, kicking Grimmjow forward. Grimmjow stumbled forward and caught himself. "No damn it, his fight." Grimmjow deflected as he came back to stand where he had been.

"Don't move." Ichigo said swiftly, looking on at the almost unscathed Sacerdote. 'Fine, if that's the way he wants it…' Ichigo thought to himself as he moved forward and brought his sword down on Sacerdote again, this time pulling off immediately and landing behind him, swinging again he kept Sacerdote on the defensive. 'Open.' Ichigo thought as he plunged his sword into Sacerdote's stomach, Sacerdote moved at the last second, leaving Ichigo's attack open to reinterpretation. Ichigo swung his sword sideways leaving a deep gash in Sacerdote's side. Ichigo jumped in the air again intending to bring down his sword on the Arrancar's head, only to find that Sacerdote's blade was white again. "Shit!" Ichigo moved out of the way and yelled; "Getsuga Tenshou!" Swinging as fast as he could at Sacerdote, who moved seconds too late, his left arm, from about the elbow up was now just a bleeding stump, the rest of his arm lay motionless on the floor before him, Ichigo moved around to the left side of Sacerdote and pulled his sword upwards and to an angle as he charged. Instantly Ichigo was gone as was Sacerdote. Both using their own form of Shunpo, the two warriors were glancing blade off blade as they darted around the room, stopping only briefly for short power-struggles, usually broken apart in mere seconds before they vanished into their Shunpo fighting again. 

"That seems to be the end of the hallway." Chad said offhandedly, pointing towards a bright light shining at the end of the hallway. "Oh, thank god!" Ishida said as he started walking towards it a little faster. As they reached it they were confronted with something that made them immensely happy to know they must be going the right way, and ridiculously repulsed at the same time. A massive slug-like hollow that must have been some kind of Aizen-experiment, Ishida looked at Chad as they both stepped into the light, without waiting for an introduction they both shot off around the sides of it. Ishida jumped high into the air and began to unload hundreds of arrows from his new and improved bow; while Chad used the only 'range-type' attack he had and sent spirit pressure waves, much like Kido, from his fists. Ishida reached the now almost decapitated head of the hollow first and sent 1,200 arrows at it in a matter of minutes. Eliminating the hollow entirely and leaving only the now disappearing particles as proof of its existence. "Maybe we were wrong…that thing was so weak we might just be walking back to another pointless room." Ishida sighed disappointed. As the two approached the door it burst open, Renji burst into the room, sword held high as he looked at the two men standing before him. Lowering his sword he looked around, "Damn…" Renji sighed as he hung his head, "I really thought I found the right way this time." Ishida sighed as the door at the far end of the room burst open revealing an ever-calm Unohana, looking surprised at the others she raised an eyebrow and walked towards them. "Well, it's clear we've gone in a massive circle…I don't quite understand how it happened but, never-the-less, where is Rukia, she should have ended up here as well…" 

"Ichigo?" Rukia was running along a dark street, Ichigo was walking away getting farther with every step she took. "ICHIGO!" She cried after him as he continued to disappear farther and farther into the darkness. "Where are you going? Ichigo, tell me! What are you doing?" Rukia screamed at him. Ichigo stopped and turned around pressing his sword to her throat. "Ichigo…what are you doing…?" Rukia cried, tears running down her cheeks as she fell to her knees. "Ending you're pitiful existence, rejoice, soon you will be free of Kurosaki Ichigo." The Ichigo standing before her said as his sword was drawn back, Rukia jolted up right, standing alone in a dark street, Ichigo was disappearing into the darkness, walking away, getting farther with every step she took as she tried to run after him, "Ichigo!" She called feebly, the memory of her dream fresh in her mind; her knee's shaking at the 'non-Ichigo' she had just witnessed. "ICHIGO!"

Ichigo's sword clashed with Sacerdote's as they were locked, yet again in combat, Ichigo's arm was torn up, he had a deep gash on his left side and his leg was severely injured from a Cero assault. Sacerdote's left arm still missing, his shoulder severely cut, his stomach had a deep stab wound and his other arm was torn up at the forearm, as well as both of his legs which had been caught by a Getsuga Tenshou. Ichigo and Sacerdote were clearly on their last leg. _"This is where we end it Ichigo" _Темно-один said soothingly as they integrated and both had 50 control as Ichigo lifted his sword high, Темно-один using the Cero-type assault Ichigo using Getsuga Tenshou they swung in unison. "GETSUGA TENSHOU!" Ichigo roared, his voice dominating as Темно-один had said nothing. The blast, which was a crimson red with a black outline erupted from his sword and, now larger than ever, engulfed Sacerdote, who flew backwards and was obliterated, leaving only the his head, as the mask shattered around his face Темно-один fell back into the recesses of Ichigo's inner-self and Ichigo walked over to the skull, looking down he could see that the mask was obviously that of former Espada. As Ichigo stepped over the mask, he picked it up and set it on the Alter that had once held the book of whatever God he may have prayed to. Looking behind the Alter Ichigo saw gold and diamond incrusted case, opening it slowly Ichigo revealed a massive sword, clearly old and most definitely foreign, the blade was highly similar to Sacerdote's. Engraved in the sword's blade was, "Veni Vidi Vicious". Ichigo stared at it for a moment before he reached inside the case and lifted the blade, along the hilt read the name; King Solomon. Confused by this obvious confusion in History Ichigo picked up the sword and turned it around in his hand. "There's something wrong with this thing…" Ichigo said quietly. "What the hell're you doin' Ichigo?" Grimmjow asked annoyed as he appeared behind Ichigo. "Julius Caesar…Was the first to have recorded Veni Vidi Vicious, what exactly did this "King Solomon" do to earn this kind of respect?" Ichigo questioned. "King Solomon is the name of the creator of the first working Soul Society during time on earth those who died would go directly to hell, with the creation of a 'Soul Society' King Solomon successfully created the first 'heaven'. Ichigo looked at the blade in his hands before sliding it back into its sheath and slinging it over his shoulder next to Zangetsu. "Well, maybe it'll do us some good; the sword belonging to the creator of Soul Society has to at least be a lucky charm or something." Ichigo said, almost smiling. The hilt, Ichigo noticed, though chose not to voice it, was made from the bones, masks, and inner-skulls of Hollows.

Meanwhile…

Tatsuki was looking down at her arms in awe. Covered in a light blue armor-like substance, they had the potency of any low-level Kido spell and the strength to hold firm against the Shikai form of Ukitaki's blade and could hold strong against Komamaru's BanKai, assuming of course the monstrous form of his BanKai didn't aim anywhere other than her arms. Proud of her new accomplishment she looked across at Urahara, "I need this on my legs too." She announced. Urahara raised an eyebrow and then shrugged. "If you insist, but I think you'd be better off training with Yoruichi for this aspect of training. 

A black cat leaped down onto the ground in front of Tatsuki. "How did a cat get down here?" Tatsuki asked hurriedly, as though expecting to be attacked at any moment. "Shut up stupid, now, pay attention because unlike Ichigo, you're spirit pressure is mediocre at best." The cat said slyly looking up at the girls stricken face, not so much at the words, but at where the words had come from. "Fine," Yoruichi sighed, seeing that the girl wasn't going to shut her mouth until Yoruichi just became human. In a puff of smoke the cat was no more nor was anyone in the center of the smoke. A fully dressed Yoruichi appeared behind Tatsuki. "Now, will you please pay close attention, I hate repeating myself." 

"Karin, are you just going to sit there like that all day?" Yuzu asked concerned, "Hitsugaya-kun doesn't look too happy either…" Yuzu continued, Karin shot up and looked across the desert-like terrain to a very unhappy Toushiro who looked somewhere between ready to commit mass homicide or suicide. Karin sighed, "I can't go back over there…" Karin said slowly as she repositioned herself and Yuzu whispered something to Noba who nodded and jumped in the air and held his hands out in front of Karin. "Oh shit!" Karin said as a red vortex engulfed her and she ended up behind Matsumoto and Toushiro. Yuzu waved at her from across the room and Karin was highly tempted to wave something else back, but, controlling her energy and gripping her hand tightly she went over to Toushiro and sat down on the open side of him, the original one being taken by Matsumoto. "Umm…Are you busy?" She asked as Toushiro seemed surprised as he jumped and turned to face her, still sitting she was curious how he had managed that seemingly immovable bounce, he smiled at her and replied, "No, we're not busy, Matsumoto was just leaving." Toushiro said without looking at her, Matsumoto looked at Toushiro, and then sniffed. "Fine, if you don't want me here!" Matsumoto said in a mock fit of tears. She stood up and retreated back to Ikkaku and Hanatarou, as she collapsed next to them, all three burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter. Toushiro's faced flushed as he heard the raucous laughter behind him. "Are you ok, Toushiro?" Karin asked as she looked at him, "You're face is unusually red." Toushiro's mind frantically racing for an excuse, finding none he pushed the hair out of his eyes and looked up at her. "No, I'm, uh, fine" Toushiro said, "So what brings you…err…back over here?" Karin looked at him awkwardly feeling as though telling the truth would be the equivalent to that of complete suicide, she said, "Should I not be here? Did I interrupt something?" She asked, half using it as an excuse and half really curious if she had interrupted something important. Toushiro sighed and shook his head, smiling at her, "Nope, nothing." Karin smiled back, "So what is up with all the other Shinigami here…Every time a Vizard looks this way they stiffen up and well actually every time anyone looks over here they look…nervous or something" Karin pointed out, the rigid Shinigami talking in low voices, all facing forward. "We are all out of place here, coming to the living world is never something a Shinigami Captain enjoys…Well, most of us anyway." Toushiro said, shrugging. "Do you like coming here?" Karin asked quickly. Toushiro thought for a moment, "…Yeah, I do." He smiled at her. Karin shrugged, "Ok." She really didn't know what to say to him, he looked at her profile for a moment, her face turned away from his, looking up. Toushiro let his gaze drop and he followed her eyes up, staring up at the same sky-blue ceiling Toushiro didn't see anything too interesting and so he looked out towards Tatsuki's renewed training. Truthfully, there was nothing Karin could find duller than the ceiling above them but that didn't mean she wasn't going to pretend until she could think of something, that wouldn't blow her cover, to say.

Hueco Mundo…

"You better know where you're going this time Grimmjow and no pussy-footing around it either!" Ichigo said as he strolled along next to Grimmjow, Nell still hanging onto his shoulder. She had healed his wounds to the best of her ability but they still weren't closing completely. As they walked through yet another confusing labyrinth of dark hallways, bright white rooms and false doors, the trio appeared before a tall door with an unrecognizable sign printed on it, the door didn't seem to have any means of opening it other than force, if there was a way, Ichigo didn't see it. "Ok, I guess we'll blow it down?" Ichigo asked uncertainly at Grimmjow. "Don't know, it used to be open all the time." Ichigo sighed, "Fine." Ichigo pulled out his sword and raised it above his head. "I'll blast through it! GETSUGA TENSHOU!" Ichigo swung downward and the streak of blue, and now-unusually, red light shot from his blade in a slash, colliding with the door. As the smoke cleared a scratch appeared on the door. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Ichigo bellowed at the door, which now seemed to be recovering from its scratch, leaving behind no trace.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime turned around and rushed to the door but was immediately stopped by the Espada who had earlier caught her. _"Ichigo…On the other side of this door…Ichigo, coming to save me…" _Orihime thought, her emotions crossed between happiness and fear. "Kurosaki-kun…" She whimpered as she leaned her head against the opposite wall, tears rolling silently down her cheeks.

"Grimmjow…How the fuck am I supposed to tear this wall down?" Ichigo's voice was steady and calm, unlike his usual erratic self, which made him, in Nell's personal opinion, ten times scarier. "I don't know…Nell, can you transform?" Grimmjow asked. "Transform?" Nell asked curiously then jumped and hit him over the head, "What the hell are you talking about! Nell is already transformed!" She leaped back into Ichigo's free arm as he held her as she climbed back on to his shoulder. "Use BanKai then and I'll use Cero that should"—

"No matter how many attacks you use, it can't be broken! It is part of me; the wall won't disappear until I do!" An Espada morphed in from Ichigo's peripherals, removing himself entirely from the wall, the Espada stood at about 6'9, a scary height even for an Espada. "Well then, since you so desperately want to remove my wall…" The Espada drew his sword, "I'm going to have to get rid of you…"

"Chad! Watch out!" Ishida cried as Chad narrowly escaped another jab from one of the two oncoming Numeros the duo had encountered. Chad and Ishida, fighting relentlessly were run down, the fight had gone on for almost a full thirty-five minutes and no one was more surprised than they were that their bodies hadn't collapsed from the strain yet. Ishida slid in front of the oncoming Espada and unleashed several fast arrows which were easily fended off or dodged as the blade of the Espada came rushing at Ishida, as the blade was inches away from Ishida's stomach, an unusual Zanpaktou, knocked the blade away. A tall man with an oddly shaped hat and a painted face stood in front of Ishida. "Why the hell am I the one always stuck saving your sorry Quincy ass?" Mayuri asked bitterly as he dodged another stab attack from the silent numeros and lunged forward himself slashing smoothly as the numeros blocked his attack and jumped backward. Mayuri, who seemed less than content fighting a meager opponent like a numeros after having been delegated the task of removing Espada, was using every ounce of his annoyance and anger and releasing it all on this single numeros.

Mayuri spun around the numeros and swung in a wide arch letting his blade rest in his out stretched arm as it dove into the chest of the numeros. Pulling it out slowly Mayuri spun one more time, more gracefully than one might expect from the man, and removed the numeros' head. Ishida was breathing heavily, "no one…asked…for your help!" the Quincy burst out defensively. "Shut up. Nemu, help him." Mayuri ordered as she rushed to the aid of the Quincy. Chad's fist collided with the numeros' mask, shattering it, as the numeros disappeared into a rain of spirit energy, Mayuri turned to look towards the now open door. "You better hurry, Byakuya."

Ichigo's blade was drawn back, he had assumed a fighting position when a shower of dancing pink petals surrounded him and, as Ichigo recognized Byakuya's Senbonzakura he lowered his blade. "I thought you weren't coming, I thought this wasn't part of the mission, what happened? Get scared in the cold out there?" Ichigo mocked relentlessly as the petals drifted away from him. "Shut up." Ichigo went to stand by Grimmjow, feeling that fighting each other while an Espada stood present and Orihime so close at hand seemed stupid to a point Ichigo would not dare explore with the temperamental man. As the petals danced around Byakuya he turned to face the Espada, "Shall we begin?" Byakuya asked needlessly as the Espada charged. Byakuya easily defended and attacked simultaneously. The Espada dodged and fended off Byakuya's attack. 

"Mayuri-Taichou?" Rukia and Renji asked, together as they appeared at opposite ends of the room. Mayuri, Chad, Unohana, Nemu, Ishida, Pesche, Dondochakka, Kenpachi, Yachiru and now Renji and Rukia, stood in the center of the room, the entire party had re-congregated with the exception of Ichigo and Nell. Yachiru was complaining about how they only got to fight 7 numeros while Kenpachi was nodding his agreement in the girl's disappointment. "Well, we better go find Byakuya, he went off to help Ichigo, who, we're almost certain has found Orihime, or at least her general whereabouts.

Ichigo went BanKai and put on his mask as his power rose Nell had to get away from Ichigo's immediate presence due to the sheer pressure, the pressure made the other sword on Ichigo's back tremble, grabbing it Ichigo held it's hilt, the blade in the ground to keep it from falling. His power had even interrupted Byakuya's fight. 

"There it is!" Rukia exclaimed, "That's definitely Ichigo's Reiatsu!" The whole team nodded as they darted for the source of the now shaking building. 

Meanwhile…

"Everyone hurry!" Urahara commanded quickly, his voice steady but his mood shaking. "We must meet the army, I have confirmed that it is amassing in an open field just outside of Karakura, we have to stop its decent to the city. Everyone darted for the trap door moving with speed the human eye could not follow; Toushiro put a hand on Karin's shoulder and whispered, "I'll be back." And, seconds later, was gone, leaving only a trail of dust in his wake, the three with Yuzu were commissioned with protecting Karin and Yuzu as the rest disappeared to help the war effort. 

The Vizard were the first on the scene, their masks drawn, their swords out, they lined up side-by-side in a long line, the Shinigami filed in around them as Yamamoto and Urahara quickly shouted for order, Isshin was standing alone, floating some ten feet above the rest of the army. "Wow, the Vizards did come to play after all…" Isshin said quietly. "You were going to leave me out again Isshin?" Asked a voice from behind him, Ryuken Ishida drifted towards Isshin, dressed in full-battle armor of the Quincy. "You…Came?" Isshin asked, shocked. "This is my city too, and I'll be damned if I let these pathetic excuses for living beings defend it for me!" Ryuken said, waving his hand around at the Shinigami. Isshin grinned, "Alright Ryuken lets at least have a little fun, that's that thing you used to have before you became a tight-ass, remember?" Isshin joked as the Quincy rolled his eyes. 

As the battle commenced, Tatsuki was one of the first to charge the hollow army. She had only recently gained the ability to 'fly' or at least for the most part, she could use her powers to keep herself in the air for extended periods of time. Aizen could be seen in the back, next to Tousen and Gin, they were assuming the same position as Urahara, Yamamoto, Isshin, Yoruichi and Ryuken had assumed. Although Ryuken would randomly fire off several hundred arrows, it wasn't much. 

Tatsuki was cutting through Hollows in a way she never could before, her newfound power in her arms and her only half formed full power in her legs were moving her through them like they were nothing. The slew of Hollows were to be followed by Arrancar, but the sheer number of Hollow now were bound to attract Minos Grande, which was, of course, Aizens plan…

Hueco Mundo…

The petals died away as Byakuya's BanKai receded and he sheathed his sword. The door remained but Ichigo felt sure this time it would crumble. Raising his sword just as the rest of their group slid into the room. Ichigo swung and an enormous burst of jet black energy shot from his blade, still in BanKai-form the door blew to shreds, releasing his BanKai and crushing his mask Ichigo put his sword back on his back and looked at the teary-eyed Orihime as she ran towards the huge group, all of whom, even Byakuya-well almost, was smiling at her as she ran towards Ichigo. 

"How do we get out of here..?" Byakuya asked the group at large as Orihime looked rather uncomfortable having just been freed from the clutches of her captors she was overly grateful to all of them but she couldn't help here and that irked her more than anything, except maybe how close Ichigo was standing to Rukia, but she crushed that feeling immediately and continued to smile. Ichigo turned to Grimmjow, "How did you get through?" He asked quickly, an idea coming to him. "Well it works like how a Shinigami gets back to Soul Society, we use our swords, but it won't work now that Aizen has sealed the gates, we Espada can't do anything about it if we were left here." Ichigo shook his head, "I didn't say anything about you." Ichigo said simply as Byakuya finally noticed the Espada's presence as did everyone else. "GRIMMJOW! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" They all burst out collectively as Nell and Ichigo stepped in front of him to stop the onslaught that was sure to come. "No, he's with us now." Ichigo said simply and Grimmjow coughed, "No, I'm just not with them nor against you." Ichigo shook his head, "Fine, either way, he's no enemy." Ichigo said simply. "But he's an Espada!" Burst out Renji, Ichigo raised an eye-brow at him, "Yeah? I'm a Vizard, essentially I'm a counterpart of the Espada, are you calling me your enemy?" Renji quickly shut his mouth and stepped back several feet from the death-glare he received from Rukia, Nell, Kenpachi, Yachiruu, Pesche, Dondochakka and Orihime.

Ichigo smiled slightly as he pulled on his mask and built up his spirit energy, then thrusting it into the air behind him he ripped it out violently. Immediately a vortex appeared similar to the one in Urahara's shop that transported them here. As soon as it opened to the Living World, Ichigo put his sword and the sword he had recently picked up and an enormous blast of spirit energy beat into them. "Follow that energy!" Ichigo roared over the white-noise escaping the hole. Ichigo and the rest jumped into the Vortex, Nell hanging on to Ichigo's shoulder. 

A cero was moving at ridiculous speeds even for an Arrancar, Tatsuki was in the line of fire, she couldn't move, she was too slow to get out of the way, as she crossed her arms in front of her and braced for impact a blur of black streaked across the now night sky, illuminated only by the light of the moon, the cero broke around the swift slash of the orange haired man's sword. "Hey." Ichigo said turning halfway to see Tatsuki looking back at him. "I thought I sensed you…" Grabbing her around her waist he leaped into the air and used his sword to cut through the rabble of Hollow's that barely seemed present as he skid to stop in front of Ryuken, Urahara, Yamamoto, Yoruichi and… "DAD? WHAT THE HELL?" Ichigo roared angrily, shattering his mask with the hilt of his blade. "You're a Shinigami…All this time and you don't tell me? Are you fucking serious?" Ichigo didn't care there was a war going on behind him, he didn't care Tatsuki was next to him, he didn't care Nell was standing on his shoulder looking confused. All Ichigo cared about now was just what the hell his father was thinking not telling him what he was. "Ichigo…" Nell said calmly bowing her head as Yamamoto's eyes widened to see the cracked mask on her head. "Kurosaki, what is the meaning of this!" He pointed at Nell who looked very unhappy at her title of 'this'. Ichigo threw him a death-glare. "This has a name! This is Nell, and I don't answer to you anymore!" Ichigo spat at him, dawning his mask again. "Dad, we are going to talk about this…" Ichigo said turning to face Urahara and grabbing Tatsuki's arm and pulling her close. "What the hell is the meaning of HER presence?" Tatsuki ripped herself out of his grasp, "I'm here because I wanted to help you Ichigo! You weren't going to let me so I had to find someone who would!" Ichigo looked at her, then to the group that was with him in Hueco Mundo and was now, under the cover of their comrades bringing Orihime forward. "I brought her back." Ichigo said as he started walking towards the battle field, Orihime rushing at Tatsuki and engulfing her in a hug. 

Ichigo's mask was up on his head, he turned to see Tatsuki looking at him. He sighed deeply and looked at her with eyes full of sadness, and then closing them again, he smiled at her, genuinely-the smile that she condemned to have been lost at the disappearance of his mother. Pulling the mask over his face he stared at her again for a moment, then in an instant at speeds Tatsuki couldn't even begin to follow, he was gone…

Ok this is the FIRST entry of what will be a lot of sectional stories, most chapters will be this long and take some time to write, although this only took me about 4 days to complete it was still something that was, after all, rather difficult to piece together, the next entry: WarZone, will be out as soon as I can get it out. This will be following a basic interpretation. All of this should be taken as pure speculation and just, as it implies, a Fanfic. Also, if any of you have a problem with pronouncing Ichigo's inner hollow, I'm sorry, but I told my friend I'd give'em a Russian Name, sorry. Finally please R&R, because I like feedback, plus it helps me know im not writing this so nobody can read it. 

Note: This is 21 pages of writing, at a word count of: 11,969 words. Each chapter will vary from between 10k-15k words, there will be no 'short chapters' simply because I don't want to make them, don't like it-I don't care. 

--The Grim Anarchist.


	2. Warzone: RIOT

Warning: If violence of a graphing nature, or the seemingly needless or pointless massacre of fiction Arrancar or otherwise bothers you, refrain from reading

**Warning:** If violence of a graphing nature, or the seemingly needless or pointless massacre of fiction Arrancar or otherwise bothers you, refrain from reading. Also it is prudent you do not bug me about my apparent taste for the graphic detail of violent behavior on the part of whomever I please. If Dante can describe Hell in a manner that would make most people puke, I can kill fictional people gruesomely, LEAVE ME ALONE. Otherwise feel free to criticize. Please, R&R.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach nor any of its characters, anything else in here I may have referenced to other things I don't own either. Otherwise I own this fanfic (Just none of the crap it's based on). Though according to Locke, we should have no intellectual property merely that of physical nature-but the law fucked us so screw it, I still own nothing.

**Note: **Although there are no actual spoilers in here, there may be allusions to that which might be considered a spoiler due to the original story which I based this off of. So if your worried-again I URGE you, go read the manga-its healthy, reading is good, so when your through there come back here…(I urge that too).

Ichigo moved swiftly down the long hallway of Urahara's shop, it had been elongated and altered so much it now resembled the Grand Tower of Seireitei, the Grand Tower, in fact, had just been re-created after Ichigo's last outburst during Rukia's rescue. Ichigo threw back the door, within sat his more directly related comrades, the Vizard, Chad, Ishida, Orihime, Isshin, Urahara, Yoruichi, Ryuken and due to their own volition and risking possible expulsion from the Shinigami ranks, Rukia, Renji, Kenpachi and Yachiruu. The ever-present Nell, who had once again released her true form, was standing behind Ichigo.

It had been a full five months since Ichigo had returned with Orihime, Pesche and Dondochakka had remained in Hueco Mundo but were direct correspondents to Ichigo for any problems that may arise in the sector. Ichigo also had made several important friends in Seireitei in the form of Hanatarou and Toushiro, although Toushiro had been spending most of his time here during the war. It had been directly relayed to Ichigo by Urahara, who had kept his carefree demeanor throughout the course of this whole ordeal.

Hollow's had amassed at a number that would drop from Hueco Mundo randomly. The battles would be directed by an Espada, Tousen, and Gin or, for the large scale assaults, even Aizen. All of these men, including the ones who opposed Aizen knew that the Hougyouku had a massive set back when Orihime left. It became evident that her mere presence was key to the awakening.

Tatsuki, however, had been spending increased amount of time down below the shop with many of the others but her goal was different. In the five months of nonstop training and warfare she had come a long way. Now with a great deal of experience and practice she had achieved the level of strength that could match an Arrancar in the form of any but an Espada. Her power, impressive as it may be, was still under strict supervision by Urahara. This was merely the good news though, Ichigo reminded himself, as he recalled what Urahara had explained to him several days ago in a letter sent to him from the hidden location he had been doing something he chose not to disclose, only recently having got back, Ichigo read the letter and was now in full swing to yell at the man for not explaining this bit of overwhelming information earlier.

_"Ichigo,_

_Aizen has amassed a small troop of five Vasto Lorde's. After reading Toushiro's report I'm sure you can grasp exactly what this means. Although your abilities have come a long way the Vasto Lorde are the elite, as was explained by Toushiro, a mere ten could annihilate all of Seireitei. There are several that have been convinced to join Aizen, the rest are staying in their homes in Hueco Mundo and refusing to leave. You might have been curious as to why this is important if it's only a few of them he has convinced. Simply those few, although it will be astonishingly obvious when they pass through to Living World, could have a ridiculous effect and could be irreversible to the people, Ichigo, although going back into Hueco Mundo isn't our first choice, if it comes to a point where the Vasto Lorde will pull themselves out of Hueco Mundo on Aizen's orders, it will become necessary that we… "Bring the war back to him" or reverse the playing field. Now there are several flaws here, the first of which is that we would have to immediately crush the Espada's movement on Living World's general lifestyle. As I'm sure you're aware they have attempted several 'connections' with the people living there. If we have any chance of defeating Aizen, it will become necessary for you to retrieve the Hougyouku, and to do so you must return into Hueco Mundo…With Orihime…_

_Sincerely,_

_Urahara Kisuke. _

Ichigo closed the door slowly behind him and stood, facing the blonde-haired man. "I thought you told me her presence there would cause the Hougyouku to awaken more rapidly?" Ichigo questioned, an explanation was unnecessary, everyone had read the letter. "Well, yes, but as the Creator of the Hougyouku, I have gone back over my research and found the only means of destroying it is to deny its existence to have ever been present, to do so, Orihime's power is monumental." Urahara nodded around the room as he said this. Shinji stood up and addressed both Ichigo and Urahara as he cleared his throat; "I'm sure we can all agree that it has become self-evident that we are now in a state of turmoil, there are two ways out of this, or rather, into it. One, we may stay in this plane of existence and fight and risk it's destruction, although doing so leads Aizen into a false sense of security, provoking a possible mistake, unlikely, but possible. Two, we push them back into Hueco Mundo, their homeland and beat them there. The only problem is that in Hueco Mundo the hollow supply will never run thin and they know the area, having lived there all their lives. However this could also create an erratic state of panic for Aizen, seeing as we have just pushed back the brunt of his army, back where they came from. There are only a few options left open to us, a decision has to be made." Shinji concluded. Ishida now stood and nodded at Shinji, "I agree with his second option, it would be more likely that Aizen is forced into an erratic state than a calm, sense of security, he has never had that 'sense of security' broken, and it won't happen because we mow down another few thousand Hollow that he doesn't give a damn about to begin with. The Shinigami"-he nodded at Rukia and Renji-"with the exception of two, have deserted us, not so much the war but our involvement. Although their army is the larger one, they are also more disorganized, the old man who's leading them has got to be senile to believe that Aizen will just 'back off if we give him some leeway' as he suggested." A collective nod went around the room as Ichigo added; "I have to agree, at this point we have no cooperation, but they have no facts, they are working off blind negotiation with someone who tore their civilization apart, the old man has a problem, even Byakuya is in disagreement with him." Kenpachi cocked an eyebrow disbelievingly, and Ichigo grinned at him, "As proof of this, I'd like to quickly welcome, Kuchiki Byakuya." Ichigo stepped out of the way as the door flew open and Byakuya was revealed.

"I have no intention of 'joining' this little rag-tag team that you have haphazardly thrown together, however I will not negotiate with the enemy of the Society. There has to come a point when we must re-evaluate the war effort to a degree that suits it. I…" Byakuya cut off as he turned as did the rest of the group and Tatsuki leaped out of the hole behind them that led to the training grounds. "Yo! Let's go!" She said as they all quickly evacuated the Headquarters, moving swiftly in the direction of the enormous Reiatsu which signified the opening of Hueco Mundo, thus releasing an assault.

This is how their meetings had gone lately. Halfway through a meeting, even if it was simply a small raid would come and interrupt. Kenpachi and Tatsuki seemed to be the only ones who didn't mind this twist. They were the first out the door and the last back in it, as they relentlessly slaughtered the Hollows. When asked, Ichigo couldn't deny the pleasure he got from removing the Hollow from his city, but the Arrancar-who seemed to have rational thought process were hard to explain. Ichigo had no second thoughts about killing them with a single swift swing of his blade, but it didn't stop him from wondering just what they were fighting for. It was just his luck that he may get the opportunity for that question to be answered. Ulquiorra descended from behind the army of what appeared to be less than ten thousand. Though this meant nothing, if just hollow, intermingled with the Hollow were several different level Arrancar all seemingly under the control of Ulquiorra. Ichigo shot towards the descending Espada, thanking whatever god may be up there that he had reached this opponent first, the very opponent he'd been longing to fight. Not so much for the fight, but for the conversation he was sure to draw, Ichigo desperately needed to know what made this person of obviously great intellect, follow the deluded aspirations of a lunatic like Aizen.

Ichigo's blade collided with Ulquiorra's in a flash of steel on steel; the two were locked in a death-grip, both trying to push the other's blade back. They disengaged and broke back, both repositioning themselves for another strike. Ulquiorra's blade came down swiftly on Ichigo's. "What's the point of this!?" Ichigo asked, with every coming of Ulquiorra, Ichigo had questioned him relentlessly on the reasoning behind Aizen's deluded goals. And every time, the response was the same; "It is Lord Aizen's will." Which did nothing but fuel Ichigo's anger, "What do you care? You're part Hollow, he's Shinigami! He will toss you aside as soon as he has what he wants!" Ichigo argued as the whirlwind of blades continued to rage throughout the skies while the others fought their own battles, Ichigo was absorbed in his own. "You're wrong." Ulquiorra said simply. Ichigo drew back and brought his blade down on Ulquiorra's shoulder, and cutting through to the center of his chest. Leaping backward Ichigo deflected Ulquiorra's stab. "We'll see." Ichigo shrugged as he flash-stepped behind Ulquiorra and swung in a huge arch, the sword was blocked and countered. Ichigo felt a surge of pain as blood fell from his wounded forearm. Ichigo stepped out of the second stab attack and drove his blade through Ulquiorra's undefended leg, recoiling, Ulquiorra retreated farther back with Ichigo following him. Ichigo swung dangerously just as Ulquiorra retreated back into Hueco Mundo.

If that had been the first time, Ichigo would have been angry, but this has been the practice, Ichigo's constant attempts to convince Ulquiorra to tell him why he followed Aizen so blindly, ending with Ulquiorra retreating before even releasing his Zanpaktou. There had been some confusion among the group that maybe Ulquiorra was doing some sort of recon, but no evidence for that, nor contrary to it, could be conclusively discovered. Ichigo merely agreed to his decided fact that whatever Ulquiorra was doing, it wasn't anything he wanted to let happen. Ichigo lifted his blade and sent three consecutive "Getsuga Tenshou's" into the swarm of Hollow's that had not been attacked yet. Scattering Ichigo flew down to assist in the destruction of the remaining army.

"Heads up!" Ichigo heard a voice call from behind him as Ichigo ducked to avoid a flying Grimmjow, sending himself full swing towards an oncoming Arrancar. Ichigo spun and drove his Zanpaktou into the center of a Hollow's mask. Ripping it out he looked skyward to where Ulquiorra had vanished. Shaking his head he shot off in the center of another Hollow grouping. Ichigo's blade collided with another mask as Tatsuki landed beside him planting her white armored plated-foot through the mask of an oncoming Hollow. "No luck?" She asked as she jumped over Ichigo's blade to crack down another Hollow. "Nope, I don't get it but"-Ichigo swung his sword, removing four Hollows-"There has to be some reason, Ulquiorra can take a lot more pain than what I just did so he's got to have some kind of"-Ichigo ran through another ten or so Hollow-"motive." Tatsuki just grinned as she continued to dart around the area fighting and destroying Hollow's at almost the same pace as Ichigo. "Oh well, maybe next time!" Tatsuki smiled at Ichigo who grunted his reply as he swung his sword again, letting a Getsuga Tenshou escape the tip, it wasn't a fully formed one but it eradicated 12 Hollow's in a straight line. Ichigo had been improving on the once inflexible form of the Getsuga Tenshou; he had created several new techniques based purely off the raw power that he exerted regularly through this attack. In combination with the Cero, his only "Kido" ability Ichigo's fighting efficiency against Espada had increased ten-fold.

The group returned to Urahara's shop, all of them standing in the doorway, somewhat tired. Rukia, Orihime, Chad and the Vizard, with the exception of Shinji and Hiyori all set off for their rooms, while Tatsuki jumped back down to the training area. Meanwhile Ichigo, Urahara, Byakuya and the rest of the party went back to the room they had been discussing their issues in prior to the attack. "Ok, Byakuya, you were saying something about re-evaluating the war effort?" Urahara asked easily as he sat back down. "Yes. I believe there comes a point when leadership fails, but that does not mean in any way that the order has failed, merely that a new leader is necessary, as much as it pains me to say it, Ichigo has filled in as that 'leader'." Renji burst out laughing and fell backward, his drink almost slipping out of his hand, only to be steadied by an annoyed Nell, who had taken a seat next to Renji and was now regretting it.  
"I-I'm sorry" Renji choked out, "But every time I hear Ichigo and leader in the same sentence it kills me." Renji regained his half-assed composure and sat up again, allowing his annoyed and interrupted captain to finish. "Yes, well, as much as it pains me to say it, Ichigo has stepped up. Though I will not 'join' your little group"-Byakuya turned to Ichigo, addressing him directly,-"I will assist in anyway possible; it is for the betterment of the Society and the Living World." Ichigo nodded.

"Well I think we can all agree that the 'betterment of both worlds' is the initial goal, but"-Ichigo threw down the crumpled letter Urahara had sent on the table before him-"We're going to need to go about this some other way, Urahara, I won't take Orihime back to Hueco Mundo." Urahara nodded, "Well no more than two people CAN go, so you're either bringing Orihime or going alone, I just thought that Orihime would be the best option as she is the only one who can eliminate the Hougyouku." Urahara concluded looking sympathetically at Isshin who was sitting next to him. "You can't send a boy in Hueco Mundo alone." Ryuken voiced from behind Ishida, next to Isshin. Ichigo glared at him, "I'll go alone, that's fine, but I need time to prepare just what the hell I'm going to do once I get there." Ichigo said. "Nah, I'm going back too" Grimmjow said from behind Ichigo. Ichigo spun around to see the teal haired man who had, prior to this point, refused to set foot in the house. "So am I!" Nell said firmly. "That shouldn't be a problem as they are both part of that world; those two getting in unnoticed won't be a problem." Urahara said nodding at both of them in approval. "I'm going too." Shinji said, standing and looking to Urahara, "That will be ok, because the two of us can get in safely and Nell and Grimmjow won't be detected to begin with, this serves our purposes more efficiently doesn't it?" Urahara nodded in agreement. "We leave in three days, prepare yourselves by then." Ichigo said as he pushed his way out of the room and pushed back the door. Isshin was still in a stupefied state of shock as he leaned back on his arms and shook his head.

"Ichigo…Are you okay?" Tatsuki asked as Ichigo stared into the glass case containing the sword he had retrieved from the Arrancar in the tower that Orihime had been held in. It was Grimmjow's fight, Ichigo knew that, but something about the man encouraged him to take on Sacerdote. Tatsuki put his hand on Ichigo's shoulder and shook him gently, "Are you okay?" She asked again, a little louder this time. Ichigo jumped and turned to face her. "Yeah…I'm fine," Ichigo said as he walked towards 'his room'. Pushing open the door Ichigo collapsed on the bed in the corner and closed his eyes, Zangetsu leaning against the wall next to him.

Rukia awoke with a jolt as she stared around the darkened empty room. Ever since the first illusion she had been trapped in while in Hueco Mundo, she couldn't get a decent nights sleep, the recurring dream of Ichigo, Ichigo leaving, Ichigo almost killing her, or killing something else or leaving, she couldn't bring herself to believe that her dream would turn to be Ichigo killing her, it was a distinctive possibility, "IN THE DREAM" she constantly reminded herself, she wouldn't believe that's how it ended. Her head was resting in her hands as she tried to shake the thought from her head. 'The only way to settle this is to go to Ichigo and tell him about it…And see how he takes it…' she told herself, and although she couldn't bring herself to actually go, she attempted to rationalize what he might say, assuming she did go. 'Just go…' she told herself as she tried to shake off the feeling of uneasiness. She was moving to stand up as a shadow past by her door, it was Ichigo, she felt the reiatsu, it was faint now that he had learned to control it to some extent, but recognizable, to her. She stood and crossed the room and slid back the door. She followed him while trying to keep herself hidden. When he stopped before the glass enclosure containing the Arrancar Sacerdote's sword he put his hand on the cool glass, Rukia-who had become thoroughly confused-watched him for a moment before moving.

"What am I supposed to do?" Ichigo questioned quietly.  
"Ichigo…" Rukia, standing behind him, leaned her head on his back, "I have something I need to ask you." Ichigo didn't move, she felt his back stiffen up but still he did not move. "What is it Rukia?" He asked his voice wasn't harsh, but calm and kind. Rukia took a deep breath and continued, her voice somewhat shaky;

"While we were in Hueco Mundo I was ensnared by an unusual illusion, and ever since we got back I can't sleep without the dream coming back, it plays over and over again…It scares me…" Rukia shook slightly and Ichigo turned around and put his arms around her. "What was the dream?" He asked looking into her eyes, holding an unusual emotion-fear. "In…In the dream you're walking away, leaving and I run after you calling your name, but you can't hear or just ignore me I don't know for sure…After a few minutes you stop and come at me and put your blade on my throat…" She breathed shakily as Ichigo looked down at the space between them, "Then the dream cuts out, and I wake up." She looked up at him, his head hung, his hair covering his face so she had no idea what he was thinking. "I'm sorry…" Ichigo said slowly. Rukia moved closer to him, "For what?" She asked incredulously, fearing the worst. Ichigo did not respond and she leaned closer to him. "This." Ichigo said as he lifted his blade into the air and brought it down in a huge arch.

Rukia awoke in a cold sweat on her bed, crying into her hands choking on the breaths that had a hard time coming. She was shaking against the wall her knee's up to her chest as she cried heavily. She must have been louder than she expected because not seconds after her cries had become audible, Ichigo was sliding open her door violently. "Rukia, what's wrong!?" he asked walking towards her. She tried to edge away from him, but the wall was blocking her movement, but that didn't stop Ichigo from noticing her uneasy movements. "Rukia…What…What's wrong?" Ichigo asked, suddenly far more concerned than he originally was. Rukia was fighting to control herself, her last dream had changed, she tried to tell him and the 'non-Ichigo' had almost killed her again, but as always, she had woken up before he could do it. "Ichigo…Don't…" She choked out. Ichigo's usual mask of distain and anger had gone, replaced with concern and worry. "Rukia...What is it?" Ichigo asked again, refusing to move until he knew what was bad enough to make Rukia cry. Rukia shook her head and Ichigo walked towards the bed, Rukia tensed up and tried to move closer into the corner. Immediately Ichigo stopped, not wanting her to feel any more uncomfortable than she already was he sat at the farthest edge of the bed. "Rukia…" Ichigo said, not looking at her, hoping it might help in some way, "Please…Tell me what's wrong." Ichigo pleaded, his head hung, his hands gripping the edges of the bed. Rukia looked over to him; she was fighting with herself whether to go near him again, it was true, he didn't have his sword this time, but with the dream still fresh in her mind she was reluctant to even move, not to mention she was still crying desperately into her knees.

After several long hours of arguing with herself, Rukia moved closer to Ichigo, she crawled slowly along the bed, as she reached him she crossed her legs as she sat behind him and lead forward, resting her head on his back, she realized-in a similar fashion to in the dream-this did nothing to improve her nerve. Ichigo lifted his head and turned to her. "Ready to tell me what's wrong?" Ichigo asked, it was well past midnight but he had not moved, he was afraid she might do something stupid-like run away. "Why are you still here?" She asked slowly, trying to choke back the tears that she had been trying to suppress. "Well, I couldn't leave you here crying by yourself could I? And I couldn't do anything but sit here, apparently you were…" Ichigo stopped, trying to regain himself enough to finish his sentence. "Apparently, you were afraid of me…" Ichigo's voice trailed off as he hung his head again. Rukia put her hands on his shoulders as she inched closer to his back. Ichigo put his hand on hers and looked back at her. "Not afraid of me anymore? Now will you tell me"-Ichigo turned around, still holding her hand in his as he sat down, cross-legged on the bed in front of her-"What was so wrong that had you crying for well over three hours?" Ichigo asked, leaning his head towards hers. "I've been having these dreams…"

"No Hiyori, you can't come, we already reached our max, so you have to stay here!" Shinji argued as Hiyori stomped around their room groaning in anger and anxiety. "Why the hell not!?" Hiyori asked for the fifteenth time in that single hour alone as Shinji just about ran his head through the wall in the hopes it would knock him out and save him from the girls endless whining. "Listen! I'm not going through this AGAIN! You cannot come; I have shit to do before we get out of here, so kindly, SHUT THE FUCK UP!!" Shinji roared as Hiyori jumped at him trying to land a hit, he side-stepped the girl and pushed her out of the room slamming the door behind her he locked it quickly. "GO ELSEWHERE!" Shinji said loudly as he turned back to his bed and opened up the bag that was sitting on it. Opening it slowly he removed a small black casing, undoing the latches on its side he pushed open the case. "Excellent…" Shinji smiled as he looked down into it.

"I did WHAT!?" Ichigo asked for the third time. Rukia was looking at him, almost amused by the astonished look on his face. The way he was taking it relieved her, she sighed and said, "You didn't do anything, I said almost, and it was just a stupid dream, you're not actually going to kill me…RIGHT?" Rukia asked, her face at a level of stoicism to match Byakuya's. Ichigo rolled his eyes, "I don't know…" Ichigo said looking away. Rukia pulled the hand that was still clutched in his out of his grasp and pushed him, hard. Ichigo fell backwards off the bed. "Rukia, damn it what the hell was that about!?" Ichigo asked annoyed, clutching the back of his head. She jumped off the bed and onto him, her knee colliding with his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. "You couldn't kill me anyway!" Rukia said, sitting on top of him, "I'd win." She smiled, brushing the loose strand of hair that had fallen out of her red and puffy eyes. Ichigo sat up with her still on top of him. "Crying doesn't suit you, so you should probably avoid it." Ichigo said looking at her bloodshot eyes. Ichigo used his free hand to brush the tears that were still on her cheeks away with his thumb. Looking up at her they heard the door open, Ichigo's hand still cupped around Rukia's face, Rukia looking down at him, their awkward position never changing. "WHAT THE FUCK!?" Renji questioned as he slid the door fully open, stepped inside and closed it quickly. "Holy SHIT, I come here to tell Rukia that Urahara is looking for her, and… WHAT THE FUCK!?" Renji burst out again. The two leaped away from each other and tackled Renji, Rukia covering his mouth Ichigo pinning him against the wall. "Shut up!" they said in unison as Ichigo let him out of his grip and kicked him into the bed. Renji jumped up and turned to see the two walking towards him. "Calm down, really! Lets relax, Nell went to get you too Ichigo so…You…Should…Go…." Renji said slowly edging away from them as he broke for the door he slid it open and darted through it, running full-speed down the hall and sliding to turn at the end of it. "We better go…" Ichigo sighed as he looked at Rukia, who nodded.

"For those of you who don't know; Ichigo, Shinji, Grimmjow and Nell will all be going to Hueco Mundo for the sole purpose of bringing the Hougyouku back here." Urahara looked around the room at Chad, Orihime, Rukia, Grimmjow, Nell, Ichigo, Shinji, an extraordinarily angry Hiyori, Isshin, Ryuken and Renji. "Well, now that you all know that, everyone but Nell, Ichigo, Grimmjow and Shinji can leave." Urahara smiled around at everyone. "Ichigo..?" Rukia whispered next to him. Ichigo leaned down, "I'll explain everything later, you should go, I'll tell you later, I promise." Ichigo said, it seemed to be enough to convince her because she nodded slowly and followed Orihime out of the room.

"There are several things you need to know about the Hougyouku before you leave." Urahara said looking at the four people before him, "Only someone with extraordinarily high Reiatsu can carry it, so all four of you should be able to achieve this, however, do not split up under any circumstance, it will suck your power from you, that is the main purpose, which is why it was prudent for Orihime to be in the castle, it used her powers in an adverse effect, essentially speeding up the process, all of you will be enough for it to feed off of, but not enough to awaken it unless the holder uses a surge of power, like BanKai"-Urahara looked at Ichigo-"Or releasing your true forms or mask." Urahara looked at the other three. "You should switch off holding it, at intervals of several hours, every six or so hours you should alternate. This is extremely important; the Hougyouku can kill you if you're not careful with it." Urahara said grimly. "Ichigo…Consider this a mission, but this isn't soul society, their rules don't apply here, the team is the number one priority, we can always abort and restart the mission. No one dies, understood?" Isshin said looking at his son with eyes full of worry. "Yes." Ichigo said simply, smiling slightly he turned to Urahara, "I'm bringing that sword." Ichigo left the room leaving an annoyed Urahara in his wake, "Damn… I wanted to play with it some more…" Urahara grinned and the other three shook their heads groaning and left the room behind Ichigo.

Ichigo put his hand on the glass and slowly let a Cero form in it, the glass shattered around his hand and he reached inside, pulling out the great sword. Closing his eyes he allowed himself to fall into his 'inner world' and stood before Темно-один and Zangetsu. "Same question. What do you think the purpose behind that sword is?" Ichigo asked. "We still have no idea" Темно-один responded and Ichigo sighed. "Well, if I use it, what are the possibilities?" Ichigo asked the two, Темно-один shook his head and shrugged. "I wouldn't use it unless it became clear just what it was FOR" Zangetsu said slowly, weighing the options in his mind. "Ok. Well we know it was the sword of the original creator of the Soul Society, so it's got to be worth something, its times like these I wish I hadn't killed Sacerdote, he might have been able to tell me something." Ichigo sighed as he looked up at the 'sky'. "Well, any suggestions?" Ichigo asked the two who shook their head. "Well, I'll just bring it along I guess, maybe I'll learn something along the way." Ichigo grinned at the two before closing his eyes and rejoining the 'world of the living' as Rukia had deemed it when he came back from the 'inner world'. Ichigo shrugged and slung the sword over his back as he walked down the hallway towards Rukia's room.

Urahara stepped out in front of Ichigo and said, "Come with me" his manner was serious and very uncharacteristic. Ichigo nodded slowly, but followed as Urahara jumped down into the basement training facility. "I'm sorry Tatsuki, but I must close this place off to everyone with the exception of myself and Ichigo." Tatsuki looked confused and threw Ichigo a look that clearly said, 'What the hell?' Ichigo shrugged as Tatsuki nodded and walked towards the exit and jumped out of it. Urahara turned to Ichigo,  
"Tonight, we begin our new training"-Urahara started as Ichigo cut him off with;

"Is this going to be ACTUAL training or are you going to beat the shit outa me for the next seventy-two hours?" Urahara chuckled softly and then continued, his serious demeanor fading with every word. "Yes, this will be actual training Ichigo, and I'm sure that your father will sneak down here to partake in your training as well. All-in-all we are going to train you to a level that far surpasses the state you are in now. So, Ichigo please put on your mask…"

"What has Ichigo been doing?" Rukia asked, it had already been two days since Ichigo started his 'secret' training and they only had a day left, and Rukia was thoroughly annoyed by his absence, considering she would not be able to see him for quite some time while he was on his journey-of course, she wouldn't be saying that to anyone else. Everyone looked from Rukia to the entrance to the underground training area. The floor had shaken twice that morning alone, and although no one could decisively place the feeling as a Reiatsu or something else, they were all desperately wondering what was going on below them. "He has to be up tomorrow Rukia, so don't worry." Ishida said as he leaned back on the wall as Orihime nodded her agreement. "Let's go peek!" Yoruichi said, her recent arrival with Soi Fong had yielded much knowledge of the goings-on in Soul Society. "Uh…" the whole room said in unease. "You guys are NO fun!" Yoruichi complained as she turned back to the television next to her and continued to channel-surf. Rukia turned back to Orihime and asked her what she had been doing with Ishida and Ryuken the day before. Ishida smiled slightly and Orihime practically bounced her seat as she explained all the 'Quincy-training' she had received. Although it had nothing to do with an actual Quincy, she had titled it that for a reason no one-not even Ishida-could explain. As Orihime babbled on about the new techniques she had achieved Kenpachi kicked open the door, Yachiru swinging from his shoulder, her sword still out, drenched in blood. "How'd it go?" Grimmjow asked-Grimmjow had recently become friends with Kenpachi, and everyone expected it was because they shared the same insatiable bloodlust. Kenpachi shrugged and Yachiru leaped off Kenpachi's shoulder to dance around at Grimmjow's feet. "It was great! Ken-chan killed lots of them! He's bad at sharing…" She sighed as she went back to sit on Kenpachi's shoulder as Kenpachi merely grunted. Grimmjow raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and sat across from Kenpachi as the two delved into conversation.

"Ichigo is asleep." Isshin grinned at Urahara. "I guess it was harder than we thought-but he did get through it, let's bring him upstairs." Isshin nodded, "Hey how is his spiritual pressure?" Urahara asked. Isshin grinned, "You can't feel it?" Urahara laughed and looked at the sleeping orange haired boy, "Break off the rest of his mask, how he still manages to keep it employed even now is beyond even me." Urahara said sighing. "Well I'll take him up, later Kisuke." Isshin said as he jumped out of the training grounds and walked to Ichigo's room.

As Isshin opened the door he saw the figure of a girl sleeping in the chair next to his bed, on the floor was a larger figure, "Zaraki" Isshin thought, and next to Zaraki sat Nell, Ishida and Orihime. "What the hell…" Ichigo asked hoarsely raising his head to look around at the scene. "Did I pass out?" He asked looking up at his father. Isshin nodded, and put Ichigo down on his bed.

"You finally back Ichigo?" Zaraki asked, opening the unveiled eye. "Yeah…" Ichigo groaned. "Good, now I'm going to kick your ass, I was thinking it over-how come I can't go to Hueco Mundo, stingy bastard." Ichigo grinned at Kenpachi's words and sat up on his arms. "I need you to stay here and make sure that these guys don't get over-run."

"I don't need any help." Ishida said from the corner, making Ichigo jump. "Damn it Ishida, what the hell are you doing hiding in the corner!? And yes, you do- there are too many for you to kill them all." Ichigo said dismissively. "You think so!?" Ishida asked annoyed, a little louder than necessary. "Quiet!" Ichigo whispered. "I don't want to be told to be quiet from you; your battle-cry from Soul Society could wake up people here." Ishida argued. "Shut up both of you!" Zaraki said, making Nell wake up. "Damn it! I'm going to sleep I will talk in the morning!" Ichigo said and buried his head in the pillows and soon drifted off to sleep.

Ichigo stood in front of the massive vortex that would return them to Hueco Mundo. Shinji, Nell and Grimmjow all stood next to him, they awaited the go ahead from Urahara. As Urahara gave the order Ichigo turned around and looked at all of them. "Don't fuck up!" Ichigo said as he jumped into the portal, smiling one last time at Rukia before forcing himself deeper into the portal and vanishing entirely. "Hey! Hang on a sec!" Ichigo called to Grimmjow who laughed and sped up. "Bastard…" Ichigo growled as he increased his speed, the platform he was running on was, unusually, a straight line. Ichigo finally caught up with the three ahead of him and as he turned to curse Grimmjow the light at the end of the vortex shone brightly. "Heads-up dumbass!" Grimmjow said as he leaped out of the Vortex, followed by Nell, Shinji and Ichigo.

As the four landed they looked across the barren plain to something no one, especially Grimmjow, expected to see. Across the white sandy plain a massive city appeared. "Uh, Grimmjow, what the fuck is that!?" Ichigo asked angrily. "Looks like a city don't it!" Grimmjow mocked as Ichigo growled, "Fucker, just explain to me why and how a city popped up outa fuckin' nowhere!" Grimmjow shrugged, "We better get away from there for now anyway, try to find ourselves some kind of battle-plan." Ichigo nodded, "You do that, I have an idea, I'll come back out soon, just find a place to hide and…For fucks sake, don't go running around after random Hollow…" Ichigo said, looking directly at Grimmjow who shrugged. "Fine, just don't get killed-I don't wanna have to explain to everyone why your sorry ass got murdered." Ichigo raised his hand to show that he understood as he continued to walk towards the city. "AND BRING BACK SOME FOOD!" Grimmjow shouted as Ichigo disappeared into a rapid Shunpo.

Ichigo was crouching behind a wall as he scoped the area. Looking down into the city he noticed everyone, including the guards were all wearing the same clothing. Ichigo had a brief flashback of Orihime's explanation of how she and Ishida had avoided detection in Soul Society. Grinning Ichigo reached in his robes and found the small Zanpaktou-like knife that had been given to him by Urahara. Slipping on the armband that it was held on he felt for the flick-switch that would release the blade, finding it Ichigo jumped to the battlements of the walls. Creeping slowly across them he came across a sole guard. Jumping swiftly he pulled the blade back and let it cut through the guards throat. Looking down he saw it to be the lowest level Arrancar possible. Slipping down with the Guards clothes held tightly in his hands.

Ichigo had changed quickly. Zangetsu, which he had still failed to return to its sealed form, was hidden awkwardly beneath his new robe-like uniform. The knife that he had used was still securely attached to his arm. The hood on his robes was up, covering his bright-orange hair and, with his head bowed, he proceeded through the city. Ichigo was walking up a darkened alley when he saw a tavern off to the side and ducked quickly into it. Finding a table near the back he leaned back in the chair, watching his surroundings. In truth what had given him the inclination to come inside was the talking of a clearly Espada level Arrancar and what was what seemed to be a Fallen Espada level Arrancar. Ichigo was eavesdropping as best he could in the loud inn. As the Privaron Espada to up to leave, Ichigo stood as well and followed him out. From what Ichigo had gathered, there was some kind of 'business' that was being run out of some place called Centro de la Trata.

Ichigo had followed the Arrancar all the way to the entrance, where it seemed he was going to be compromised, dodging behind a counter and leaping to the rooftop of the nearby building he quickly silenced the guard that stood watch on it. Moving swiftly across the building he leaped onto the roof of the building that the Arrancar had entered. Silently dodging along the side of the building's railing across its roof, he reached a tower protruding from the building and leaped into the center of it where another guard stood. Using the blade again he covered the guards' mouth and let the blade penetrate his throat. Letting the blade retract to its holding position Ichigo dropped down through the hatch on the tower. Ichigo moved quickly through the building's upper levels, which comprised of staircases and hallways. Ichigo finally found the Arrancar who was walking along the pathway. Along all sides were Hollows and clearly maltreated Arrancar. Ichigo's heart raced with fury as he saw the Arrancar kick back an Arrancar who was clawing towards him from a pit. Although Ichigo couldn't say he liked the Arrancar and he couldn't explain the surge of sympathy for the demented masses below him, but at that moment he would like nothing more than to kill the Fallen Espada that stood amongst them, casually signing a paper brought forth by an underling who was apparently working in this 'facility'.

As the Fallen Espada turned to leave Ichigo resisted the urge to jump down and murder the despicable being, looking back towards the group of disfigured Arrancar Ichigo moved to jump down as the lights in the entire room blacked out. Ichigo waited as his eyes adjusted to the sudden change, then jumped down and stood in the center of the Arrancar, looking at them all. From the Hollows on one side to the Arrancar's crying out in agony. Ichigo looked to see one Arrancar in a cage sitting in the back, his body was disfigured, his face was bruised, cut and beaten, and his legs had long gashes on them that still seeped blood as the ones on his arms were foaming with puss. Though, unlike the rest of the Arrancar, he made no noise, although he seemed to be more injured physically, he did not cry out, he showed no emotion with a stoic expression superior even to Byakuya's. Ichigo knelt down and sat eye-level with the Arrancar who looked up and clenched his fist. "You…not should be here!" He croaked out in a broken vernacular. "Over tests now are! Done are you!" He said again, pointing his finger, which he was missing half of and was gushing blood, at Ichigo. "I'm not here for testing, but it's interesting to know that's why you are here. What is the meaning of this 'testing'?" Ichigo asked as the Arrancar's eyes widened. "Outsider you are. Not be here should you, go now, and flee!" The Arrancar demanded as Ichigo shook his head, "Why are they doing this to you?" Ichigo asked again. "For good the society, for good of Aizen…" The Arrancar paused, then grimaced, "-Sama…." Ichigo shook his head as the anger boiled in chest, threatening to explode. Ichigo let out a deep breath, "What if I get you out of here?" Ichigo asked the Arrancar whose eyes widened at the small glimmer of hope, then, his head drooped and his eyes closed. "Idea bad, now can I not return, as I am now, noticed will I be and taken back more testing and pain, no do not, please!" The Arrancar pleaded with Ichigo as Ichigo sighed himself. Ichigo put his hand on the cage and muttered under his breath: "This better freakin' work Urahara or I'll fucking kill you.-Ancient Arts: Healing entity 5." Ichigo's hand shone white, then purple and the light engulfed the room, then it quickly vanished. The Arrancar's noise ceased and the Arrancar before him looked at Ichigo. "What this is? Gone is the pain, you have done?" The Arrancar gaped in disbelief as the wounds on his body slowly healed. "If I cannot free you, then for now, I will release you of this pain." Ichigo said as he stood. "When I am done here, I will free you-I swear it." Ichigo turned but the Arrancar called him back. Ichigo knelt at the cage again. "This, take with you, help you it will!" The Arrancar handed him a feather of a bird that Ichigo could not identify, "Aves del Paraiso, I am." Ichigo looked at him for a moment and took the feather, placing it gently into the innermost pocket of his clothing. "Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo replied, "And thank you-I will be back." The Arrancar nodded as Ichigo walked away slowly; reaching the center point of the room he used a quick Shunpo and was gone. "Farewell, Kurosaki Ichigo." Aves said to the darkness.

"Where the hell IS ICHIGO!?" Grimmjow cried out in dismay as he fell back again slamming his fist into the ground. The decaying remains of a hollow sitting next to him. Being in Hueco Mundo the Hollow had no where to go, and as the Zanpaktou of the Arrancar were not like the Shinigami, the slain Hollow would either remove themselves back to Hueco Mundo and simply die, or in this case, just die-leaving their remains behind. Grimmjow leaped to his feet and pulled his sword out of the dead Hollow's mask. "Calm down Grimmjow…" Nell said absentmindedly as she continued to play cards with Shinji-who had thought ahead enough to remember to bring some kind of entertainment. "Fine, then I'm going Hollow hunting!" Grimmjow said indignantly. "Ichigo said not to!" Nell said in a sing-song voice as Grimmjow scoffed. "I don't have to listen to that idiotic oaf, since when is Ichigo MY boss!?" Grimmjow inquired. "Since forever dumbass, now sit down and shut up!" A voice from behind the group said as Ichigo walked up to them. "And what the hell's the idea of hiding way out here, it took me forever to find you people, although I just found the long line of death, destruction and scattered remains of hollow, thanks for the marker Grimmjow!" Grimmjow shrugged and sat. "See, told you, you do always obey me." Ichigo said offhandedly as Grimmjow leaped to his feet. "Shut the fuck up." Grimmjow countered. Ichigo just shrugged, "Well first, I guess I should explain what happened…" Ichigo said as he set off recounting the details of his first investigation.

"What is the meaning of this!?" The Fallen Espada, Cirojano, cried angrily as he looked around at the cages, with the once decrepit Arrancar. Every Arrancar in the room had been completely healed of all wounds. Aves crept to the bars and said loudly and strongly; "El luchador por la libertad ha llegado! and your time runs thin…" Aves leaned back in his cage and dropped his head, a small smile playing over his lips. Cirojano crossed over to his cage. "Speak. Who is this 'Libertad de Combate'" Aves lifted his head, "El Luchador por la Libertad, has no name. Nor a face, nor a voice, nor a body, you will not see nor hear, nor smell, nor taste his scent, you will die before you hit the ground. "El luchador por la libertad ha llegado…And you will fall!" Aves finished triumphantly as a long blade pierced his shoulder as he was pinned to the back of his cage. "We shall see just how long you can keep the identity a secret!" Cirojano said maliciously as he flung open the cage and held the espada by the arm, his sword placed stiffly at Aves' side he was forced forward, walking down the aisle allowing all the Arrancar to see his fear, but what they saw was not fear, it was not anguish, but pride. Aves turned his head to Cirojano and smiled broadly, "You will not succeed."

"I knew about that testing facility when I was there, but I had no idea it was that disturbing…" Grimmjow said solemnly, no doubt remembering his old companions who gave themselves up for the betterment of Grimmjow himself. Nell's face was clearly on the verge of tears-very uncharacteristic for Nell in her true form. Shinji simply looked appalled. "Well we have to go get them out!" Nell said, looking hopefully to Ichigo. Ichigo looked at her for a moment, then sighed-"We can't…Not yet anyway, but we will, one of the Arrancar there, Aves del Paraiso, explained the details, before we do anything we have to take over the city, and from what I understand, the controller of the city is an Espada, I don't know his rank, nor his name, but we can be almost completely sure now, that not all the Espada have gone to Living World, which means that Aizen was bluffing and that whatever that testing facility is for, it definitely has to do with the war effort, so we must eradicate it immediately, and free the Arrancar inside. I will be going back tonight, meanwhile Grimmjow, Nell, you two get inside and infiltrate, just scope the area out, and we will find a place inside the city to stay. If we keep coming and going, we will arouse suspicion, Shinji, you come with me, and we are going to back to the testing facility." Shinji nodded, "Ok, Shinji we can't go yet but we will try to learn more about the inner-workings of the city, ready?" Ichigo asked the group. They all nodded and shot off in their respective directions.

"Get back in there scum!" A burly Arrancar grunted as he tossed Aves back into his cage. Aves was beat up, torn and-if possible-in worse condition than when Ichigo first got there. However, contrary to his old viewpoint after this pain he endured, Aves still had a triumphant smirk playing across his lips as he looked up at the Arrancar. "El Luchador por la Libertad will have no mercy on the traitorous!" Aves stated loudly. The Arrancar kicked his cage, "Shut up you!" The Arrancar said as he moved away. Aves smiled, "Testing is over. Will El Luchador por la Libertad be back, I wonder?" The Arrancar in the cage across from Aves, who had just been brought in that morning, looked across at Aves. "Who is this 'El Luchador por la Libertad' you keep talking about?" The Arrancar asked, his head leaning against the bars of his cage. "He is the hope of us all!" Aves said solemnly, nodding as he explained.

"Alright Shinji, lets go to the Facility." Ichigo said as they darted off towards where Ichigo had gone before. Night had fallen and Ichigo's scouting had done nothing but make Shinji crave a drink in the inn they had been scoping. The two darted across rooftops and down alleys until Ichigo reached the roof and tower again, Ichigo quickly silenced the guard again and repeated his previous movements, this time-however, the lights were already out as Ichigo moved to the center of the room again and heard Aves voice talking to another Arrancar as Shinji landed behind him. "My god, they're disfigured beyond reason!" Ichigo nodded, "I will repair them once more." Ichigo said, "But first, come with me." Ichigo moved towards Aves' cage. "Aves?" Ichigo asked the darkness as a head appeared at the bars of a nearby cage. "Libertad!" Aves said as Ichigo cocked an eyebrow, "What now?" Ichigo asked confused. "They questioned me about who had healed all these Arrancar!" Said the once again malformed and disfigured Aves, "So I have code-named you El Luchador por la Libertad, or Libertad for short, Kurosaki, this man across from me here," Aves pointed towards the cage opposite him, "Is new, and I have told him of your promise and what you hope to achieve. But, who is this man behind you?" Aves asked. "Shinji, I have heard much about this place, but seeing it first hand," Shinji averted his eyes, "It is understandable, quite a gruesome sight indeed." Aves continued to converse with Shinji as Ichigo put his hand on the ground and invoked the same incantation as the first time, healing all in the room, making the screams of the injured Arrancar cease immediately. "Guardian de los Maldecido!" Aves cried out, "This is you, Sir Shinji, Guardian de los Maldecido; you will be forever engraved in our memory for your promise as well!" Aves said, his excitement and ability to move restored by Ichigo's spell. Shinji turned to Ichigo, "Perhaps war-tactics won't work here, it is time, I think, for a riot!" Shinji grinned and Ichigo smiled back, "Yeah, I've always wanted to start a rebellion." Ichigo said. "It is unusual, but Kurosaki, you seem to have the aura of a Shinigami, but it's not quite a Shinigami's scent." Aves stated, confused. "Well, I suppose I'm not completely a Shinigami, though I did start out as one, I am a Vizard of sorts, the opposite of an Arrancar, in the sense that I have become part Hollow, as you have become part Shinigami." Ichigo explained but was cut off by Aves, "A Shinigami? What kind of Shinigami helps the Arrancar, you who are at war with this world?" Ichigo held up his hand, "No, not with this world, with Aizen. I have nothing against anyone in this plane of existence, until they feast on the human race, as you may be able to tell, I am not dead- I am still human." Aves nodded his understanding, but were still in disbelief at the fact that a Shinigami would be helping their kind. "You are a bad Shinigami, Kurosaki Ichigo." Aves chuckled, "This is like helping the enemy." Ichigo laughed, "Probably, but I don't much like Soul Society anyway" then Ichigo thought, and added in an undertone, "or their leader, but don't tell them that." Ichigo grinned. "You sure I can't bust you out Aves?" Ichigo asked uncertainly. Aves nodded, "Yes, I will invoke the riot from inside, you invoke from the outside, and I can guarantee our assistance." Aves grinned. "We will be back, with the rest of our squad tomorrow, trust-we will free you." And with that final statement from Ichigo, the two vanished and were gone.

"This is what you found Grimmjow?" Ichigo asked his eye twitching slightly as he looked around the small, dirty complex. "Well I figured we should fly under the radar, living in the slums like this is a better idea." Grimmjow commented as Nell walked over to Ichigo's side of the room, which seemed somewhat cleaner. "Sorry, he was being stubborn again." She whispered, smirking slightly at the half bemused half irritated look Ichigo had. Though Ichigo would have otherwise seen fit to beat the shit out of Grimmjow, then leave to go find somewhere else, he decided that he had no where near the amount of time it would take to completely down Grimmjow and it would be too much of a commotion anyway. Or so Ichigo tried to calmly rationalize how this was in anyway strategic, Grimmjow-somewhat-refined himself. "The roof of this building gives a clear view of your 'testing facility' and the slums are probably better for under-the-table dealings, so we can keep an eye on that from here as well. So what did you find out tonight about Aves and that disgusting facility?" Ichigo nodded slowly, approving-not that Grimmjow gave a damn if he approved-as he looked out the window to the cobblestone street below. "Right, well-new plan, war's are overrated. We're going to riot and see just how many people will support Aizen if we begin an altercation somewhere crowded." Grimmjow and Nell both looked dumbfounded as Shinji continued to pace the room absent-mindedly. "Well we figured it would be easier to fly under the radar this way, truth be told, the longer they think we're not here, the better off we'll be. So if this looks like a citizens uprising and that would raise awareness in other cities of rebellion, rather than invasion." Grimmjow still looked dumbfounded but Nell nodded and agreed; "Yes, that's an excellent plan Ichigo! Well, how are we going about it?" She asked excitedly. "You're a little too happy about this rebellion thing Nell…" Grimmjow said cautiously. "I've never been in a riot before, shut up and pay attention Grimmjow!" She ordered, turning back to Ichigo and Shinji. "Well we're still in the process of planning just how to start our riot, but we figure we should do it how it was done in Living World…Minus the Molotov cocktails…" Shinji said, smiling slightly. Nell looked confused and Grimmjow said, annoyed; "What the fuck are you TALKING ABOUT!" Ichigo smirked and looked back outside the window, "I'll let you take this one Shinji, and I'm going to take a walk." Ichigo said as he pulled up his hood, hid his sword under his garments once again and ducked out of the small apartment.

Ichigo walked down the small cobblestone streets until he heard the loud ravings of a man who seemed to be standing on the uppermost stair of a stoop, there were several people standing around him, about twenty or so were listening on the street below;

"_The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of Nature for his rule. The liberty of man in society is to be under no other legislative power but that established by consent in the commonwealth, nor under the dominion of any will, or restraint of any law, but what that legislative shall enact according to the trust put in it. Freedom, then, is not what Senior Roberto Filmiero tells us: "A liberty for every one to do what he lists, to live as he pleases, and not to be tied by any laws"; but freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power erected in it. A liberty to follow my own will in all things where that rule prescribes not, not to be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, arbitrary will of another man, as freedom of nature is to be under no other restraint but the law of Nature." _Ichigo looked on quietly as he edged to the side to get a clear view of everyone in the audience; more and more people seemed to be gathering as his speech continued, Ichigo caught sight of two men discussing the topic at hand, which Ichigo presumed was freedom from Aizen, but upon listening to the two men talk he learned this was not the freedom from Aizen's rule, but the Slave-trade, something Ichigo had didn't even know existed in Hueco Mundo;

"_I confess, we find among the Hollow, as well as other beings, that men did sell themselves; but it is plain this was only to drudgery, not to slavery; for it is evident the person sold was not under an absolute, arbitrary, despotical power, for the master could not have power to kill him at any time, whom at a certain time he was obliged to let go free out of his service; and the master of such a servant was so far from having an arbitrary power over his life that he could not at pleasure so much as maim him, but the loss of an eye or tooth set him fr"-_ The man never finished his sentence, Ichigo looked up to see a man in black walking quickly through the crowd, then back to the man who had been speaking moments before, several large knives were driven into his chest as he fell to the ground bleeding. Ichigo reached the stage first, "What happened, did you see who has done this to you?" The Arrancar who had been speaking shook his head slowly. "Please, leave me. My time is done, I will gladly pass on now, and I have but one request…" Ichigo nodded, "What is it?" The Arrancar reached in his pocket and pulled from it an unmarked letter. "There is a facility near here that specializes in testing Arrancar to recreate them as the 'perfect servant' in that effect they will be whatever Aizen requires-please, use this information how you will, it is everything I know…" The Arrancar finished as Ichigo pulled out his blade, "S-Sh-Shinigami!?" The Arrancar asked hoarsely. Ichigo shook his head, "No, Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo said as he pushed the hilt of the blade down on the Arrancar's mask. The Arrancar slowly began to disintegrate into spirit particles. Ichigo stood up over where the Arrancar had laid, his letter clasped firmly in his hand, the Arrancar's sword held hidden under his robes. Without turning Ichigo took a single step and was gone down the alley and back to the apartment complex in several relays of rapid Shunpo.

As soon as Ichigo had entered the room he looked at the three sitting on the floor drawing some sort of design on the buildup of dust that had collected there. "Ichigo!" Nell said as she saw him step inside. "Wait a minute, there is something that I have to look at…" Ichigo said throwing the Arrancar's blade down at his feet and sitting on the floor, he pulled out the letter and began to read;

_To whoever may have received this, I bestow on you all the information I have gathered about the system and leader that governs us. As usurpation is the exercise of power which another hath a right to, so tyranny is the exercise of power beyond right, which nobody can have a right to; and this is making use of the power any one has in his hands, not for the good of those who are under it, but for his own private, separate advantage. When the governor, however entitled, makes not the law, but his will, the rule, and his commands and actions are not directed to the preservation of the properties of his people, but the satisfaction of his own ambition, revenge, covetousness, or any other irregular passion. It is a mistake to think this fault is proper only to monarchies, as in Soul Society. Other forms of government are liable to it as well as that; for wherever the power that is put in any hands for the government of the people and the preservation of their properties is applied to other ends, and made use of to impoverish, harass, or subdue them to the arbitrary and irregular commands of those that have it, there it presently becomes tyranny, whether those that thus use it are one or many. All of this is reasoned as such for the simple purpose that our government is a free visage with an underlying Tyrannical attitude and indifference to the individual rights of Man. By this truth we must not allow it to continue. Enclosed is a petition that was secretly warranted. On it includes the names of over two-hundred and forty-nine people, which is more than half the city. With this information, I urge you to do what one of rational mind and thought knowing of the Tyranny in our current state, I urge you to do what you will._

Ichigo stopped reading and stood up, the petition was not enclosed, it seemed to have disappeared. "Everyone read this. I think we finally have a foundation for our riot, and afterwards you can explain to me just what it is you have been discussing for the last hour." Ichigo said as he tossed the paper to Grimmjow who unfolded it and began to read, the others leaning over his shoulder to do like-wise.

"I told you I'd be back." Ichigo said smirking down at Aves who was looking up at Ichigo; his cage had been annihilated by Ichigo's Zangetsu. "We're going to need you, Grimmjow and Nell-two of our companions have already started the riot, we expected this place to be empty-we were right." Ichigo grinned again as Aves reached his full height. "Who else here is willing to help us?" Ichigo asked the still dumbfounded Aves. "All of them…other than the Hollow…" Aves responded, a little bitterly as he said the word 'Hollow'. Ichigo nodded and quickly destroyed all the cages as the ninety-four Arrancar stood before him. "Well, go get your Zanpaktou; I don't know where they put them when they brought you here-do you know?" Ichigo asked the group at large. "I do. I saw them when I was led to testing once!" An orange haired Arrancar said from the back. "Good!" Ichigo proclaimed, "Show them to their Zanpaktou's and then meet me back here, ok?" Ichigo asked. The large congregation nodded and darted off after the orange haired Arrancar, who Ichigo was later told by Aves was named, Fenomeno, meaning Phenomenon-due to his orange hair. Ichigo smirked slightly at hearing this but was soon brought crashing back to reality as ninety-four Arrancar stood in organized lines before him, as though an army. Ichigo grinned broadly, "Ready to end this shit?" Ichigo asked the group at large as a fearsome battle cry erupted from the Arrancar before him, their swords held in the air, the reiatsu being released shaking the foundations of the facility they all charged for the exit, Ichigo leading the charge.

Grimmjow was darting through the city killing the guards that had amassed to annihilate the onslaught that Grimmjow, Nell and Shinji had brought. They had set buildings on fire, eradicated entire streets, massacred hundreds of guards already and now, roughly, three-hundred guards, most of which were low-leveled Arrancar stood before the three. As Grimmjow raised his blade he heard a loud noise of some sort, looking over the guards he saw a charge of Arrancar coming up behind the guards, led by an orange haired man. Grimmjow charged towards the guards as well, figuring he would meet Ichigo in the center and kill outwards. Nell and Shinji, who had almost immediately caught on followed suit. As the buildings around them burned and smoldered the Arrancar, along side Ichigo's team fought relentlessly. Ichigo darted in and out of the guards as Aves showed his worth many times over, both by saving Nell from a stray Cero shot by a careless guard and by killing more than his fair-share of the guards.

As the last of the guards fell Ichigo felt tremendous reiatsu from behind his current position, turning quickly he saw three Fallen Espada's and what would be the equivalent to their subordinates, as high-level Arrancar. Ichigo looked across at them, and then to Shinji, who nodded. Ichigo let his sword stay level in front of him as he cried, "BanKai!" Shinji meanwhile pulled his mask over his face. The two stood side-by-side as Grimmjow, Nell and-to the great surprise of all of them-Aves stood along side them. The rest of the Arrancar had fallen back to continue to eradicate the 'army of guards' that the Fallen Espada had brought with them. Ichigo charged as did the rest of the team and the battle had begun.

Ichigo blocked the attacks of the first Fallen Espada, his Zanpaktou had been released, and it seemed to cover his entire body with a thick turtle-like shell with two blades in place of hands. Ichigo was deflecting the Espada's attacks. Swinging violently, Ichigo let his blade cross over the defense of the Espada. Seeing an opening, Ichigo dove in a stabbing motion. The Arrancar dodged quickly and brought his blade down on Ichigo, who quickly moved and swung again in a curved arch, this time landing a hit on the Espada's shoulder. The Espada stumbled backward as Ichigo began another onslaught, striking the Espada's blade over and over until finally his defense broke; the Espada gave way to Ichigo's ravage as he dropped to one knee. Ichigo grinned triumphantly, raising his sword Ichigo let the blade slide cleanly through the Fallen Espada's mask as he slid in two parts, the blood spraying from his severed corpse as he fell towards the ground in two pieces. Ichigo turned to see Aves fighting with the Espada who had been the captain in command of the Testing Facility, Ichigo could hear the angry rant that Aves was roaring at the Espada who was smiling as he easily deflected Aves' attacks, Ichigo realized that Aves was in over his head as he darted forward to assist the Espada dodged Aves' stab. The Espada drew back his blade and let it sink through Aves' chest. Ichigo stopped dead in his tracks as he saw Aves slide forward on the blade until he was leaning over the hilt, his released form dieing as his sword fell towards the ground. Ichigo charged at the Espada, his anger paramount, his intent to kill penetrating as Ichigo's mask was pulled over his face in a fluid motion he kicked the Espada's sword, allowing Aves to slide off it, Ichigo grabbed him and spun around, holding Aves with one arm, his sword pointed at the Espada's throat. The Espada's surprise was replaced by a look of seriousness as he released his true form. Ichigo used a rapid short-step Shunpo to put Aves on the ground against a building. Before the Espada could move to follow Ichigo was back and his sword was pressing strongly against the Espada's sword. The Espada's released form was unusual to what Ichigo was used to. His sword seemed to be the only thing that changed, much like a Shikai for the Shinigami. Ichigo did not ponder this unusual fact for long; rather, he had no time as the Espada pushed Ichigo's blade away and rushed forward to attack. "Interesting, so it is you who invoked this riot? Well, then I, Portadora de Muerte, will remove you." The Espada said shortly and confidently. Ichigo countered Muerte's attack and let his blade slide off the tip of Muerte's as he blocked Ichigo's counter. Dropping to one knee Ichigo brought his sword up in a backwards arch, the Espada jumped back as Ichigo sent a Cero at the airborne Muerte. Muerte cut the cero in half as it flew to either side of Muerte and out of sight. Muerte's appearance was unusual at best, with vibrant lemon-yellow long hair, bright red, almost pink, eyes. His mask was positioned similarly to Nell's. Ichigo slid backwards to avoid the sweeping swing of Muerte as Ichigo turned Muerte swung as his sword collided with Ichigo's back, but contrary to the pain Ichigo had braced himself for a loud, metallic ringing resounded throughout the distant air. Ichigo turned as his guise ripped and Ichigo was left standing in his Shinigami robes. The sword that had belonged to Sacerdote was secured firmly to his back. Ichigo looked back at it and withdrew it from it's sheathe. Ichigo, held it up as he looked at it. "T-that's Sacerdote's sword!" Muerte shouted, panic evident in his voice. "Give it to me and I might let you leave here alive!" Muerte roared threateningly. Ichigo grinned broadly beneath his mask and re-sheathed the sword as he placed both hands back on Zangetsu. "This is important huh?" Ichigo asked mockingly, the mask forming to his face as he spoke. "Of course not!" Muerte roared, disagreeing much too quickly in Ichigo's opinion. "Well then…"-Ichigo charged at Muerte, Zangetsu held behind him as he moved rapidly. "You don't need it! GETSUGA TENSHOU!!" Ichigo roared loudly as the black and red reiatsu forced its way out of Ichigo's sword in a controlled burst. "Let's see if Urahara's training was worth all that shit!" Ichigo said, grinning as he pointed his sword at the Espada who was falling backward, trying to fend off Ichigo's massive Getsuga Tenshou-that had increased in size and power since Urahara's training. "Celeste Sparare" Ichigo said quietly as a black mass formed around Ichigo's sword and shot directly at Muerte in a controlled black beam. "Interesting…" Ichigo said as it cut cleanly through the Espada's blade and pinned him to the ground. Ichigo landed beside him as the black mass dissipated, leaving a black rod, much resembling the arrow Ishida had, lodged in the Espada's chest. Ichigo grabbed it and it vanished into spirit particles. "Shame…" Ichigo said as he dropped his sword through the head of the Espada. "You should have left Aves alone." Ichigo said as he turned on his heel, a cero forming in his palm as it erupted, erasing all traces of the Espada. Ichigo let his BanKai fade and his mask shatter. "It was fun while it lasted…" Темно-один said as he too faded back to Ichigo's Inner-world.

Moving as quickly as he could, Ichigo moved towards the clearing wherein Nell was working tirelessly to keep the life from leaving Aves' worn body. Ichigo had to push through ninety-four faithful Arrancar to get a clear view of him. Kneeling around Aves was Nell, Shinji and an Arrancar Ichigo recognized as the newcomer who had been in the cage across from Aves the night before. Grimmjow was standing behind Shinji watching Nell's progress. "How is he?" Ichigo asked as he knelt down next to Nell. "I"-she bit her lip uncertainly and shook her head,-"I don't know." She said quietly as her head drooped. She continued to work on the dieing Aves who opened his eyes slowly, coming out of his unconsciousness. "Libertad and Guardian de los Maldecido…" Aves said looking up at Shinji, "It seems, I will not be able to do as I had promised…Though you both have certainly kept your promise, and for this I thank you." Aves looked up to the Arrancar kneeling next to him. "Yes, I don't believe you were properly introduced, this is Salvador." Ichigo nodded at him, but Salvador did not look up, his eyes were trained on Aves. Aves' breathing was hoarse and strained; it seemed to take a lot out of him to even speak. As Nell worked, Ichigo stood behind her watching.

"Aves Del Paraiso died at approximately 2:34AM during treatment. He appeared to be getting better, but, unfortunately he was unable to fight off an infection that the sword had given him. Aves' heart stopped and he slipped into unconsciousness, it was a painless and dignified death. Kurosaki Ichigo performed the Konso on an Arrancar, breaking almost every law in Seireitei to do so, and even so, we only pray this day that Aves finds his way to a heaven he can be comfortable with." Nell finished as she placed Aves' Zanpaktou into the dirt, his sheathe lying in front of it. Engraved in his sheathe were the words;

"_Here died Aves Del Paraiso, hero of the Riot of Examenes. A rebel Arrancar and a disgrace to all Aizen-following Arrancar, for that fact, the city of Examenes…Commends you, Aves Del Paraiso-may you transcend to a place we have all failed to find…"_

As the city returned to its once calm state, and the fires were extinguished the citizens began to rebuild. Ichigo, Nell, Grimmjow, and Shinji all stood at the top of a stooping Valley, in the distance the faint outline of another town or city of some sort was visible. "WAIT!!" Salvador said as he ran to catch up to the four. "I-I-I'm coming, coming with you!" he said, struggling to catch his breath and speak at the same time. "In-In Aves' place, I will go!" Ichigo looked around at the others, "Are you sure?" Ichigo asked. Aves nodded as Ichigo looked around at the others. "Alright, get your shit and let's go." Ichigo grinned as Grimmjow and groaned and Nell walked next to Ichigo, still in her adult form, her head leaning on Ichigo's shoulder, her arm wrapped around his other shoulder for support. After the long night of pumping reiatsu, Ichigo could tell she was exhausted and so opted to say nothing about how little this would do to relieve any of the strength required for walking.

The five moved off towards the city in the distance that was said to be the second compound before the Great Kingdom of Dios, wherein Aizen and his army was supposed to have relocated. Ichigo's two blades, Zangetsu and Sacerdote's sword gleamed in the dull light of Hueco Mundo the group vanished into the Valley that would take them to the next city.


End file.
